▁Harvard ▁College , ▁he ▁studied ▁English ▁Liter ature ▁and ▁Computer ▁Science , ▁receiving ▁his ▁A . ▁B . ▁in ▁ 1 9 9 8 . ▁After ▁gradu ation , ▁he ▁worked ▁as ▁a ▁software ▁engineer ▁for ▁Microsoft , ▁and ▁then ▁joined ▁a ▁start - up ▁in ▁Cambridge , ▁Massachusetts . ▁He ▁later ▁received ▁his ▁J . D . ▁from ▁Harvard ▁Law ▁School ▁in ▁ 2 0 0 4 ▁and ▁after ▁working ▁as ▁a ▁corpor ate ▁lawyer , ▁eventually ▁became ▁a ▁high - tech ▁lit ig ation ▁consult ant . ▁He ▁began ▁publishing ▁fiction ▁in ▁ 2 0 0 2 . ▁His ▁first ▁published ▁work ▁was ▁" Car th agin ian ▁Rose ", ▁a ▁short ▁story ▁on ▁mind ▁upload ing ▁which ▁was ▁published ▁alongside ▁nine ▁other ▁authors ▁in ▁The ▁Ph ob os ▁Science ▁F iction ▁Anth ology ▁Volume ▁ 1 . ▁ ▁After ▁a ▁long ▁career ▁writing ▁and ▁publishing ▁short ▁fiction , ▁Li u ▁turned ▁to ▁ep ic ▁fant asy ▁nov els , ▁starting ▁with ▁The ▁Grace ▁of ▁Kings ▁in ▁ 2 0 1 5 . ▁He ▁has ▁also ▁written ▁for ▁the ▁Star ▁Wars ▁universe , ▁with ▁The ▁Leg ends ▁of ▁Luke ▁Sky walk er ▁in ▁ 2 0 1 7 . ▁ ▁Al ong ▁with ▁his ▁original ▁work , ▁Ken ▁Li u ▁has ▁found ▁work ▁in ▁transl ating . ▁He ▁has ▁translated ▁the ▁works ▁of ▁multiple ▁Chinese ▁authors ▁into ▁English , ▁including ▁ ▁Li u ▁C ix in , ▁Ha o ▁J ing fang , ▁ ▁Chen ▁Q i uf an , ▁