Cho Youngju is a self-described “successful nerd” who graduated from the creative writing program at Soongsil University in Seoul. Her father was a graphic novelist. She won the 6th Digital Writer Award based on a fanfic of Sherlock Holmes as well as several other online awards including the 2nd Kim Seung-ok Literary Prize. With her winning the Segye Literature Award for Red Sofa, she was able to quit her barista job and turn to writing full-time. Her novel There’s a White Windbreaker won a grant from the Korea Content Promotion Agency. A columnist as well as a novelist, she has also published the essay collection It’s All Right to Like Lots of Things.