Her writing career has been smooth sailing from the start. Her debut novella The Sisters' Jungle, was published as the headline piece in the prestigious Harvest literary magazine in 2003.

With the success of her Memory in the City of Dragon trilogy she became the country's youngest top-earning female writer, squeezing into the Chinese Writers' Rich List in 2010 and 2011.

"What's outstanding about Di An is that she not only achieved market success but also won literary accolades," Guo Jingming says.