S. Isabel Choi
Photo by Lisa Keating
Bio
S. Isabel Choi was born in Seoul, grew up in New Jersey, and now lives in the Bay Area. Formerly a litigator, she is finishing a memoir on the legacy of loss and illness, inspired by the story of her grandfather, the Chief Justice of South Korea’s Supreme Court from 1981 to 1986. He crossed one river in North Korea to escape a death march during the Korean War and, decades later, leapt into another river in Seoul to take his own life. An excerpt from this project was longlisted for the 2020 First Pages Prize. Her work has been recognized as a Best American Essays Notable Mention and nominated for Pushcart Prizes and The Best of the Net. A Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference alum, Choi has a BA from Dartmouth College, JD from Santa Clara University, and an MFA from the University of San Francisco.
I received the call from the National Endowment for the Arts days after learning of a writer friend's passing. My friend had fought ovarian cancer for four years, but after having seen her doing better during a recent hospital visit, I believed we had more time. Our circle of friends had just excitedly proofed jacket copy for her novel. There was more for her to do, more for us to celebrate together. Then a text from her sister arrived: "I'm sorry to write with bad news..." It hit me how frail my friend had looked, how I had tamped that down, because I was not ready to let her go. I was rushing out of her hospital room to pick up my son from school, when she stopped me with her parting words: "I love you, Isabel." I had said, "I love you too,” confident I’d see her again.
All this was flashing through my mind when my phone lit up with a call and text from area code 202. As Katy Day from the NEA relayed the astonishingly good news, my disbelief whiplashed from despair to euphoria. I was impossibly, deeply happy. I had been working for a very long time on a generational memoir that delves into my Korean heritage and cultural trauma. In light of a daunting diagnosis, I consider how much of my inheritance I will keep, and what I will release to lead a sanguine life. Being chosen for this prestigious fellowship provides incredible, grounding validation, and I am grateful to everyone at the NEA. With this support, remembering my dear friend’s resilience, I will do my best to take this first book to the finish line and begin anew with my second project, a novel.