Born in 1978 in Jiangsu Province, Xu obtained a master's degree in Chinese literature at Peking University, and is now an editor at People's Literature magazine.
Xu has published three novels, Midnight's Door, Night Train and Heaven on Earth, and a collection of short stories entitled How Geese Fly up to Heaven. He has won several prizes within China for new and promising writers, and is generally considered one of the burgeoning new stars of China's literary scene.