Andrea Cheng


Andrea Cheng was a Hungarian-American author of children's books and poet, best known for her Anna Wang Series of middle grade novels and Shanghai Messenger. She has written over 25 books, spanning genres like Picture books, young adult, Chapter books, non-fiction, and poetry.

Personal life

Cheng was born in El Paso, Texas. She was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, as the child of Hungarian immigrant parents who originally came from Australia and emigrated in 1954. Cheng was raised in a predominantly African-American neighborhood and was the youngest of three siblings. She grew up speaking both English and Hungarian.
She graduated with a bachelor's degree in Teaching English as a Second language from Cornell University in 1979. After graduation, she apprenticed to become a bookbinder and studied French and taught English in Switzerland. After she returned from Switzerland, she studied at Cornell University to receive her master's degree in Linguistics.
In addition to writing books, she taught English as a Second Language as well as Children's Literature at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College.

Death

Cheng died of breast cancer on December 26, 2015 at the age of 58, after a long illness. Two of her manuscripts were published posthumously.

Works

Picture books
Young adult
Chapter books
Middle grade
Non-fiction
Won