Esther Sun is a writer interested in heritage, memory, and the relationship between the personal and the political.

As a poet, she has received an Academy of American Poets Prize from Columbia University, an Oxbelly Foundation fellowship, and multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her work is published in The Offing, Half Mystic Journal, and DIALOGIST, among others.

Her journalism has appeared in the Albany Times Union, the San Jose Mercury News, the New York Amsterdam News, NBC’s TODAY, and more. She was awarded the Hearst Fellowship in 2025. At the Columbia Daily Spectator, she led metro coverage of Upper Manhattan with a focus on institutional accountability. Her reporting on the closures of two local preschools sparked national coverage and contributed to the reversal of one closure decision.

Esther graduated from Columbia University and spent a semester living and working in Amman, Jordan. She is based in the Bay Area, where she was born and raised.