FIU To Honor Best-Selling Author On Thursday

MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) — Florida International University will honor best-selling author Amy Tan with the Lawrence Sanders Award for Fiction on Thursday.

Tan, the author of "The Joy Luck Club,' will also speak and participate in a public discussion at the event.

Tan was born in the U.S. to Chinese immigrant parents. Her parents urged her to become a doctor or concert pianist, but instead she chose to write.

In "The Joy Luck Club," Tan tells the stories of four women and their daughters, all Chinese immigrants to San Francisco.

She has also written six other best-selling novels, two children's books and several works of non-fiction. She also wrote a libretto that premiered at the San Francisco Opera in 2008. Her work has been translated into 35 languages.

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