[10] In 1991, Li fulfilled a compulsory year of service in the People's Liberation Army[7] in Xinyang as part of her obligations before pursuing her college education.

[12] Li's stories and essays have been published in The New Yorker,[13] The Paris Review, Harper's, and Zoetrope: All-Story.

[15][10] After recuperating and leaving the hospital, she lost interest in writing fiction, and for a whole year, she focused on reading several biographies, memoirs, diaries and journals.

[15] A few months after the book was published, her 16-year-old son, Vincent, killed himself,[10][12] which she explored in her 2019 novel Where Reasons End.

[16][17] In September 2022, Li published The Book of Goose, a tale of a literary hoax spun by two 13-year-old girls in postwar France.

[20] Li was appointed the Director of the Creative Writing Program at Princeton University in 2022, succeeding Jhumpa Lahiri.

[36] Li was chosen to serve as a judge for the 2024 Booker Prize, alongside Edmund de Waal (chair), Sara Collins, Justine Jordan, and Nitin Sawhney.