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Hi, I'm Cindy :)

I'm Cindy Yang, a rising freshman at Columbia University and a recent graduate of Phillips Academy Andover. I'm a prospective English major with interests in a wide variety of subjects, including 18th and 19th century English literature, but also piano performance, creative writing, contemporary queer literature, flow arts, and more. As a member of the queer community and a fan of xianxia and historical Chinese fiction, I'm focused on normalizing and positively portraying queer relationships and characters in short stories and books inspired by the genre of Chinese xianxia, like my latest novel, The Scent of the Orchid in a Forest of Secrets.

As a student and a lifelong learner, I've always been enthusiastic about learning beyond the bounds of a single subject. As one of three 2025-26 Brace Fellows at my high school, I reached outside of my comfort zone of English literature to embark on a significant research project into queer Chinese literature and its role in queer resistance in China. My resulting presentation and 37-page paper, titled "Gray Space, Gay Space: Danmei Literature and Queer Resistance in China," blended the boundaries of literary analysis, cultural studies, and historical research, all the while grappling with the immense hurdle of studying a society vastly different from the American town in which I grew up.

While my primary academic interest is in English Literature, I've always resisted the perceived boundaries what is expected of a "humanities kid," including tackling high-level classes in STEM subjects in my later high school years, winning the Dalton Prize in Chemistry for outstanding performance in my high school career. I also had the honor of being recognized with the Faculty Prize, awarded at Commencement to a member of the 2026 graduating class of around 300 for exceptional scholarship their Senior Year.

I'm a writer. Ever since I was little, I've loved reading, and that's since transferred into a love for writing similar stories to the ones that filled me with joy and excitement. I write mostly for fun, playing with my imagination and crafting the characters and stories that I felt were lacking in mainstream literature. The primary genres I work in are xianxia and wuxia, but I also write the occasional personal essay. I have published some of my writing in my middle school's literary magazine, the Pike Press, as well as in one of my high school's literary magazines, The Pariah, and I've won several Regional Awards at the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition, as well as being shortlisted for the Means Essay Prize of the English Department at Andover. My essay "Sounds of My Grandmother" is also published in the 23rd edition of the teen literary magazine elementia.

You can check out some examples of my shorter pieces here or my newest novel on Wattpad. I was also a Prose editor for another one of my school's literary magazines, The Courant for the past two years. This year, I had the honor of receiving my English Department's Charles C. Clough prize, awarded for my literary analysis essay, "When Language Overwhelms Meaning: Heaps of Papers in Bleak House."

Other than writing, I like to spend my time learning new things, reading (check out my reading list), practicing flow arts like poi spinning and Chinese yoyo (shoutout to Photon), playing piano, dancing, doing Chinese paper cutting, watching and editing study vlogs, drinking bubble tea, and binging Chinese dramas.

Here is how I'm spending my time this summer:

Currently Reading: