Meiling Jin who was born 1963 is a Guyanese author, radio broadcaster, playwright, and filmmaker who currently lives in London, England.
In June 1964, Jin's family fled the country due to the unstable politics and moved to London, England.
Meiling Jin writes of the initial distress in England that she and her sister faced as the only Chinese girls in their school.
Jin learned a lot from her teachers in London during this time and mentions in numerous articles how they were some of the many people in her everyday life from which she drew inspiration for her works.
"[5] Today, Meiling Jin's topics and style of writing reflect her identity as a Chinese Caribbean author.
It's if, I am hurling myself against an enormous concrete wall; the only dent being my head the mausoleum of dead white poets, who have such a hold on people, I feel diminished.
[8] Meiling Jin infuses her life into the story by placing an introduction of the poems explaining how her parents chose England as opposed to Barbados for their final destination.
[9] According to Critical Perspectives on Indo-Caribbean Women's Literature, Meiling Jin uses The Thieving Summer (1993) to "make[s] plain the difficulties and dangers of growing up an outsider in an insular community".
[9] Waterstones Marketplace provides a brief summary of The Thieving Summer when they state: "A group of black children who live in North Kensington inadvertently find themselves involved with a petty criminal.
In the beginning pages of this book Jin acknowledges and commends her mother for contributing to some of the stories told within Song of the Boatwoman.