Lisa Lee is the the author of the debut novel AMERICAN HAN (out March 31, 2026 from Algonquin/Little Brown), described by Joumana Khatib of The New York Times Book Review as “one of the best things I’ve read in ages” and named a “most anticipated” book by: The New York Times, TIME, Harper’s Bazaar, LA Times, Publishers Weekly, Alta Journal, Literary Hub, Electric Literature, Goodreads, The Millions, Debutiful, Audible, and more. 

Lee is the recipient of the Marianne Russo Emerging Writer Award from the Key West Literary Seminar, an Emerging Writer Fellowship from the Center for Fiction, and a Pushcart Prize. She has received additional fellowships and awards from Kundiman, Millay Arts, Hedgebrook, the Rona Jaffe Foundation, Tin House, Jentel Artist Residency, the Korea Foundation, and others. Her work has appeared in Ploughshares, VIDA: Women in Literary Arts, North American Review, Sycamore Review, Gulf Coast, Tusculum Review, Reed Magazine, New World Writing, and elsewhere.

Lee holds an MFA from the University of Houston and a PhD in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Southern California. She received a B.A. from U.C. Berkeley in English and Music, and a J.D. from Santa Clara University in Public Interest and Social Justice Law. She has taught courses in writing, literature, and digital humanities at the University of Southern California and the University of Houston.

Lee lives in Los Angeles and grew up in Napa, California.