“I read Lorrie Moore and Marilynne Robinson and Jhumpa Lahiri and Richard Ford, John Updike, Anton Chekhov, Vladimir Nabokov - all of whom I really fell in love with.”

American musician, singer, songwriter, and author

Michelle Zauner is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and author, best known as the lead singer of the indie pop band Japanese Breakfast. She is also known for her memoir Crying in H Mart, published in 2021. Her memoir spent 60 weeks on The New York Times hardcover non-fiction bestseller list. In 2022, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in its Innovators category, reflecting her reach beyond music into writing and public culture.