Marie Myung-Ok Lee

Marie Myung-Ok Lee is a highly acclaimed Korean-American author, best known for her groundbreaking young adult novel, "Finding My Voice." This novel is considered to be the first contemporary set Asian American YA novel, making Lee a trailblazer in the literary world.

Lee's work has been recognized with numerous awards and honors. She has been granted a visa to North Korea since the Korean War, making her one of a select few American journalists to achieve this. Lee was also the first Fulbright Scholar to Korea in creative writing. She has received an O. Henry honorable mention, the Best Book Award from the Friends of American Writers, and a New York Foundation for the Arts fiction fellowship. Her stories and essays have been published in prestigious publications such as The Atlantic, The New York Times, Slate, Salon, Guernica, The Paris Review, The Nation, and The Guardian.

In addition to her writing, Lee is a founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop and teaches creative writing at Columbia. She is a dedicated advocate for Asian American representation in literature and is committed to nurturing the next generation of writers. Lee lives in New York City with her family, where she continues to write and teach.