She was born in Chongqing, China in 1944 and moved to Singapore with her mother in 1950. Her mother, Wang Mei-Chuang, was a classical Chinese poet who taught history and Chinese literature. Wong May received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature, from the University of Singapore in 1965. In 1966 she went to the Iowa Writers' Workshop where she received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Iowa in 1968.[1]