A second-generation Taiwanese American, Hsu was born in 1977 in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois,[2] before moving to Plano, then Richardson, Texas.
[6] Louis Menand advised his dissertation,[7] titled Pacific Crossings: China, the United States, and the Transpacific Imagination.
[11] Hsu has been a fellow at New America, a public policy think tank and a contributor to The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Slate, and The Wire.
[19] Hsu's second book, Stay True: A Memoir, about an important friendship he had while in college, was published by Doubleday on September 27, 2022.
[20] Jennifer Szalai of The New York Times wrote, "Hsu is a subtle writer, not a showy one; the joy of 'Stay True' sneaks up on you, and the wry jokes are threaded seamlessly throughout.