Kalia was born in a Thai refugee camp to a family escaping the Secret War in Laos. She moved to America at age six. Her first book, The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir, praised by Publishers Weekly for its graceful storytelling and Hmong cultural insights, won two Minnesota Book Awards, was a PEN USA finalist, and earned an NEA Big Read title as the first nationally distributed Hmong-authored book. Her other memoirs include The Song Poet, which won the 2016 Minnesota Book Award and was a finalist for several prestigious awards, Somewhere in the Unknown World, and her latest, Where Rivers Part: A Story of My Mother’s Life. Kalia has also authored children's books centered on Hmong children's experiences, including A Map Into the World, The Most Beautiful Thing, The Shared Room, Yang Warriors, From the Tops of the Trees, and The Rock in My Throat. She co-edited What God is Honored Here?, a collection on miscarriage and infant loss by Native women and women of color. Her work has earned McKnight, Soros, and Guggenheim Fellowships. When not inspiring social change, Kalia lives in Minneapolis with her husband and twin sons.
