SAMANTHA XIAO

As a sheltered young child, Samantha Xiao chose to escape from reality and find bigger, more interesting worlds in her favorite fantasy fiction. This lasted until her family relocated, and she was moved from a tiny California progressive school to a bustling international school in Shanghai. Forced to navigate (among other things) a much bigger environment and a few revelations about her Chinese-American identity, Samantha was completely discombobulated. She leaned heavily on her old favorites: the fantasy genre and stories, which helped her understand and process this journey of discovery and self-discovery.

Today, Samantha’s writing combines her experiences as an outsider in a strange world with her lifelong passion for imaginative worldbuilding and genre stories. After graduating from the University of Chicago, she earned her MFA in Writing for Screen and Television from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, and currently works in animation development.