What do you think was the first sound to become a word, a meaning?... I imagined two people without words, unable to speak to each other. I imagined the need: The color of the sky that meant 'storm.' The smell of fire taht meant 'Flee.' The sound of a tiger about to pounce. Who would worry about these things? And then I realized what the first word must have been: ma, the sound of a baby smacking its lips in search of her mother's breast. For a long time, that was the only word the baby needed. Ma, ma, ma. Then the mother decided that was her name and she began to speak, too. She taught the baby to be careful: sky, fire, tiger. A mother is always the beginning. She is how things begin.

Tan is also in a band with several other well-known writers the Rock Bottom Remainders. When Tan was 15 years old her older brother Peter and father both died of brain tumors within a year of each other. She is the second of three children born to Chinese immigrants Daisy (née Li) who was forced to leave her three daughters from a previous marriage behind in Shanghai and John Tan an electrical engineer and Baptist minister.

In addition to these Tan has written two children's books: The Moon Lady (1992) and Sagwa the Chinese Siamese Cat (1994) which was turned into an animated series which aired on PBS. Tan is also in a band with several other well-known writers the Rock Bottom Remainders. Her most recent novel Saving Fish from Drowning explores the tribulations experienced by a group of people who disappear while on an expedition in the jungles of Burma.