Alexander Chee (born August 21, 1967) is an American fiction writer, poet, journalist and reviewer. Born in

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

, he spent his childhood in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

Kauai Kauai (), anglicized as Kauai ( or ), is one of the main Hawaiian Islands. It has an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), making it the fourth-largest of the islands and the 21st-largest island in the United States. Kauai lies 73 m ...

, Truk,

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

and

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

. He attended

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

and the

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a graduate-level creative writing program. At 89 years, it is the oldest writing program offering a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in the United States. Its acceptance rate is between 2 ...

Career

Chee's short fiction appeared in the anthologies ''Best American Erotica 2007, A Fictional History of the US (With Huge Chunks Missing), Men on Men 2000'', ''His 3,'' and his personal essays in'' Out, From Boys To Men, Loss Within Loss, Boys Like Us, The M Word,'' and ''The Man I Might Become.'' His essay "I, Reader" was selected for inclusion in the Notable Essays list of the 2011 edition of the ''Best American Essays'', and his essay "Girl," was included in '' Best American Essays 2016.'' His short stories and essays have also appeared in magazines and journals such as ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

, Tin House,

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

, Guernica,''

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

. Chee's poetry has appeared in '' Barrow Street'', ''LIT'', ''

Interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" re ...

'', the '' James White Review'', and ''XXX Fruit''. He has writtendd journalism and reviews for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

Time Out New York ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 333 cities in 59 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition became ...

'', '' Out/Look'', '' OutWeek'', ''

The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * The Advocate (magazine), ''The Advocate'' (magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States * ''The Harvard Advocate' ...

'', ''

Out Out or OUT may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films *Out (1957 film), ''Out'' (1957 film), a documentary short about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 *Out (1982 film), ''Out'' (1982 film), an American film directed by Eli Hollander *O ...

'', ''

Bookforum ''Bookforum'' is an American book review magazine devoted to books and the discussion of literature. After announcing that it would cease publication in December 2022, it reported its relaunch under the direction of ''The Nation'' magazine six mo ...

'' and the ''

San Francisco Review of Books ''San Francisco Review of Books'' (''SFRB'') was a book review periodical published from the mid-1970s to 1997 in the Bay Area, California, United States. Founding editor-publisher Ronald Nowicki launched his publication April 1975, a time when ...

''. Chee's critically acclaimed debut novel ''

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

'' was awarded the Asian American Writers Workshop Literary Award, the Lambda Editor's Choice Prize, and the Michener/Copernicus Fellowship Prize. In 2003, ''

'' named Chee one of their 100 Most Influential People of the year. He was also the recipient of the 2003

Whiting Award The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, ...

, a 2004 NEA Fellowship, and a 2010 Massachusetts Cultural Council of the Arts Fellowship, as well as residency fellowships at the

MacDowell Colony MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire. The program was founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDo ...

, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Civitella Ranieri, and Leidig House. He was a judge for the

PEN Open Book Award The PEN Open Book Award (known as the Beyond Margins Award through 2009) is an award intended to foster racial and ethnic diversity within the literary and publishing communities, and works to establish access for diverse literary groups to the pub ...

in 2012 and currently serves on the

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

of the Authors' Guild of America. Chee was the associate fiction editor of literary magazine '' The Nervous Breakdown'', and is currently a

contributing editor A contributing editor is a newspaper, magazine or online job title that varies in its responsibilities. Often, but not always, a contributing editor is a "high-end" freelancer, consultant, or expert who has proven ability and has readership dra ...

at ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...

'', an

editor-at-large An editor-at-large is a journalist who contributes content to a magazine. They are typically credited in the publication's masthead, even if they technically are not on staff. The responsibilities of the editor-at-large may change project to proj ...

at '' VQR ''and ''The Lit Hub,'' and a critic-at-large for ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''. He has taught fiction writing at the

New School University The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

and

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, and has served as a Visiting Writer at

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

. In the winter semester 2012/2013 he was Picador Professor for Literature at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

. Chee is currently full professor of creative nonfiction and fiction writing at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Works

Books

* * *

Anthology appearances

* * * * *

Essays and stories

* * * * *

Film appearances

* Interview in ''Sex Is...'' (1993), Directed by Marc Huestis, as himself

Podcast appearances

* '' LGBTQ&A'', "Alexander Chee: On Becoming An American Writer," April 23, 2018

References

External links

Author's blog

Profile
at The Whiting Foundation
"Korean Enough: Alexander Chee on New Korean American Fiction"
by Alexander Chee, '' Guernica'', June 14, 2008
"Future Queer"
by Alexander Chee, ''

'', June 23, 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Chee, Alexander Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni American gay writers American expatriates in South Korea Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Wesleyan University alumni American male journalists American LGBTQ poets LGBTQ people from Rhode Island Writers from Rhode Island American male poets American LGBTQ people of Asian descent 1967 births American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American poets 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American LGBTQ people Gay poets

Career

Works

Books

Anthology appearances

Essays and stories

Film appearances

Podcast appearances

References

Further reading

External links