The daughter of seamstress and a laborer, Fae Myenne Ng was born in San Francisco. She attended the University of California-Berkeley, and receiced her M.F.A. at Columbia University. Ng has supported herself by workin as a waitress and at other temporary jobs.

Bone (1993), her first novel, which was nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award is a story about a Chinese American family. Her short stories have appeared in the American Voice, Calys, City Lights Review, Crescent Review, Harper's, and in a number of anthologies. She was awarded a grant by the National Endowment for the Arts. She currently lives in New York City. She published a second novel, Steer Toward Rock, in 2008.