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 60) 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
RR	I Changrae
MR	I Ch'angnae

Chang-rae Lee, born on July 29, 1965, is a famous Korean-American writer. He writes novels and teaches creative writing at Stanford University. Before that, he taught at Princeton University.

Early Life 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 became a successful doctor in New York.

Lee grew up in a typical American suburb. He went to Phillips Exeter Academy, a well-known school. Later, he studied English at Yale University, graduating in 1987.

After working for a year, he went to the University of Oregon. There, he earned a special degree in writing in 1993. His first novel, Native Speaker, was his main project for this degree.

In 1993, Lee married Michelle Branca, an architect. They have two daughters.

Writing Career

Lee's first novel, Native Speaker, came out in 1995. It won many awards, including the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel. The book is about a Korean-American spy. It explores how immigrants feel when they try to fit into American life.

In 1999, he published his second novel, A Gesture Life. This book also looked at themes of identity. It tells the story of an elderly Japanese immigrant who remembers his past. For this book, Lee received the Asian American Literary Award.

His 2004 novel, Aloft, was different. It was his first book with a main character who was not Asian American. This character was an Italian-American man dealing with his life in the suburbs. The book 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 novel, On Such a Full Sea (2014), is set in a future version of Baltimore, Maryland. It was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Teaching and Inspiration

In 2016, Lee became a professor at Stanford University. He teaches English and creative writing there. He also taught at Princeton University and was a visiting professor in South Korea.

Lee has compared his writing process to exploring a cave. He said you have to find your own path. Sometimes, you might feel lost or think you're going the wrong way.

Main Themes in His Books

Chang-rae Lee's books often explore important ideas for Asian-Americans. He writes about:

• The impact of the past on people's lives.
• How different cultures meet and interact.
• The difficulties of racism and feeling left out.
• Achieving dreams and sometimes having them delayed.

His stories help us understand what it means to be American. They often focus on identity and the feeling of belonging.

Awards and Recognition

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