Henrik Chen writes cross-genre love stories about makers, scientists, and the stubborn pulse of the American Southwest. Born in El Paso and raised between Houston and Kaohsiung, Henrik studied materials science at the University of Texas at Austin before working as a lens technician and an apprentice glassblower. He later completed an MFA at New Mexico State University, where the desert light—and a series of odd jobs in camera repair shops and roadhouse kitchens—shaped his attention to craft, atmosphere, and the small gestures that reorder a life.
Henrik is the author of Salt, Smoke, Sugar (2018) and Blue Hour Algorithm (2021), both of which explore intimacy through work and place; the latter was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and received the Mountain & Plains Independent Booksellers Award. His essays and short fiction have appeared in Gulf Coast, The Rumpus, and the Texas Observer. He has held residencies with the Chinati Foundation community programs and Lighthouse Works and teaches occasional workshops on narrative structure for engineers and artists.
Henrik lives in Austin, Texas, with his partner and an elderly terrier who naps in sunbeams. When he is not writing, he volunteers with literacy programs at the Travis County Correctional Complex and restores vintage rangefinders, favoring battered cameras with stories still trapped in their viewfinders.
