Born a bi-racial Chinese-American in New York, Jocelyn was educated at Yale. She has taught writing and Asian American literature at Purdue, Butler, and Long Island universities and is currently is on the liberal studies faculty of Parsons School of Design/New School University. Her fiction has appeared in the Penguin USA anthology of contemporary Asian-American fiction entitled CHARLIE CHAN IS DEAD. The Children was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and This World, which appeared in the Penguin anthology was singled it out for praise in the New York Times Book Review.