Esther Sun is a writer.
As a poet, she has received an Academy of American Poets Prize from her alma mater, an Oxbelly Foundation retreat fellowship, and multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her work is published in The Offing, Half Mystic Journal, and DIALOGIST, among others.
As a journalist, she has reported for a range of outlets including the Albany Times Union, the San Jose Mercury News, the Sacramento Bee, and NBC’s TODAY. She has freelance bylines in the New York Amsterdam News and the Nation and was awarded the Hearst Fellowship in 2025.
As a contributing city news editor at the Columbia Daily Spectator, she managed metro reporting on NYC’s West Harlem and Morningside Heights with a focus on institutional accountability. She broke multiple stories on evictions of historic preschools, which made national headlines, and one closure decision was reversed amid community pushback following the reporting.
Esther graduated from Columbia University and spent a semester studying and working in Amman, Jordan. She lives in the Bay Area, where she was born and raised.
San Jose Mercury News: "Sunnyvale plans a makeover in the form of ‘Village Centers’ — but displaced businesses face a difficult future"
Albany Times Union: "ICE detentions in county jails have surged. The roots stretch to New York’s North Country"
Albany Times Union: "Stefanik's campaign launch kicks off historic gubernatorial race with Hochul"
Sacramento Bee: "Sacramento promised to require community benefits from developers. Has the city followed through?"
Columbia Daily Spectator: "‘Fear and silence’: Amid campus protests, sympathetic staff report stifled dissent, University retaliation, and painful exits"
Sacramento Bee: "‘This life is really temporary’: From Muslim to Buddhist, how Sacramento cares for the dead"