One of children's literature's most respected authors, Dr. Yep has authored more than sixty books for young people, and may be best known for the Golden Mountain Chronicle series, which documents the story of the fictional Young family from 1849, in China, to 1995, in America. He has received the Newbery Honor for two books in the series, Dragon's Gate and Dragonwings. The latter has been adapted into a play and others have been optioned for film development.
Other notable books are the Dragon series and The Chinatown Mysteries. In addition, Child of the Owl won the Boston Globe/Horn Book award in 1977 and The Rainbow People, Yep’s collection of short stories based on Chinese folktales and legends, received the same award in 1989. He was awarded the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal in 2005 for his contributions to children's literature.
Dr. Yep has taught creative writing and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley and Santa Barbara. In 1990 he received an NEA fellowship in fiction.
Dr. Yep grew up in San Francisco, where he was born. He attended Marquette University, graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and received his PhD from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He lives in Pacific Grove, California, with his wife, the writer Joanne Ryder.