Nu Nu Yi was born in 1957 in the village of Inwa near Mandalay (as Burmese customarily have no surnames, she affixes the place name as an identifying part of her pen name). Since her debut in 1984, she has written over fifteen novels, a hundred short stories, and various magazine articles. She currently resides in Yangon (Rangoon), although her writings are more often set among the rural poor and social outcasts.