Xiaolu Guo was born in a fishing village in Zhejiang Province and studied screenwriting at the Beijing Film Academy. She published six books in China before receiving a scholarship from the British Council in 2002. The English translation of Village of Stone (2004) was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. Her first novel written in English, A Concise Chinese–English Dictionary for Lovers (2007) was shortlisted for the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction. Guo’s film How is Your Fish Today? (2006) was selected for the Sundance, San Francisco and Rotterdam film festivals and awarded the grand jury prize for best feature film at the International Women’s Film Festival in Creteil.