Chang-Rae Lee facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Chang-rae Lee
Chang-rae Lee speaks to a University of Michigan class about his novel On Such a Full Sea.
Born	(1965-07-29) July 29, 1965 (age 59) South Korea
Occupation	Novelist
Nationality	American (naturalized)
Education	Yale University (BA) University of Oregon (MFA)
Notable works	Native Speaker; Aloft
Notable awards	Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Asian American Literary Awards
Spouse	Michelle Branca
Korean name
Hangul	이창래
Hanja	李昌來
Revised Romanization	I Chang-rae
McCune–Reischauer	Yi Ch'ang-rae

Chang-rae Lee (born July 29, 1965) is a famous Korean-American novelist. He writes books and teaches others how to write. He is currently a professor at Stanford University. Before that, he taught at Princeton University.

Growing Up and Education

Chang-rae Lee was born in South Korea in 1965. When he was three years old, his family moved to the United States. They joined his father, who was a doctor. His father later started a successful medical practice in New York.

Lee grew up like many American kids in the suburbs. He went to Phillips Exeter Academy, a special high school. After that, he studied English at Yale University and graduated in 1987.

Becoming a Writer

For a year, Lee worked on Wall Street, dealing with stocks. But he decided to follow his passion for writing. He went to the University of Oregon to study writing.

His first book, Native Speaker, was his main project there. He earned a special degree in writing in 1993. Soon after, he started teaching writing at the university. In 1993, he married Michelle Branca, an architect. They have two daughters.

Because his first novel was so successful, Lee moved to Hunter College in New York City. There, he led and taught in their well-known writing program.

His Books and Writing Career

Chang-rae Lee's first novel, Native Speaker, came out in 1995. It won many awards, including the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel. This book is about a Korean-American spy. It explores how immigrants and their children feel when they try to fit into American life. It talks about feeling like an outsider and dealing with new cultures.

More Novels

In 1999, he published his second novel, A Gesture Life. This book also won an award, the Asian American Literary Award.

His 2004 novel, Aloft, was a bit different. It was his first book with a main character who was not Asian American. This character was an Italian-American man living in the suburbs. He felt disconnected from the world around him. Aloft won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature in 2006.

Lee's 2010 novel, The Surrendered, won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in 2011. It was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

His next book, On Such a Full Sea (2014), is set in the future. It takes place in a changed version of Baltimore, Maryland. The main character, Fan, is a Chinese-American worker on a fish farm. This novel was a finalist for the 2014 National Book Critics Circle Award.

Teaching and Writing Style

In 2016, Lee joined the faculty at Stanford University. He is now a professor of English there. He has also taught at Princeton University and visited Yonsei University in South Korea.

Lee has compared his writing process to exploring a cave. He says you have to find the right path. But sometimes, you might feel like you're going the wrong way and can't get back.

Main Ideas in His Books

Chang-rae Lee often writes about what it's like to be Asian-American. He explores important topics like:

• How the past affects the present.
• What happens when different cultures meet.
• The challenges of racism and feeling left out.
• Achieving dreams and having dreams that don't come true.

His books help us understand what it means to be American. They often focus on identity and the feeling of belonging. They ask questions about being accepted and not feeling "foreign." Lee's stories often deal with themes of identity, being away from home, fitting in, and feeling alone.

Awards and Recognitions

Chang-rae Lee has received many awards for his amazing writing. In 2015, the American Library Association chose On Such a Full Sea as one of the year's Notable Books.