Kelly Yang is the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of the Front Desk children's series. Front Desk was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize in 2022 and the series has sold over 2 million copies sold worldwide. Kelly has won numerous awards, with her books praised for their powerful account of the immigrant Asian American experience. Kelly immigrated from China to America when she was six years old and overcame poverty to go to college at age thirteen, and Harvard Law School at age seventeen. After law school, she pursued her passion of writing and teaching children writing, becoming the founder of The Kelly Yang Project, a leading writing and debating program for kids in Hong Kong. Kelly has written for The New York Times and Washington Post , and been a contributor on BBC News, commenting on politics and Asia. In addition to being a novelist, she is also a screenwriter and has written screenplays and television pilots for Netflix, CBS and the CW.

Kelly lives in Los Angeles with her three children, her husband and two dogs. The Take is her debut adult novel.