Stacey Heather Lee is an American author of

young adult fiction Young adult literature (YA) is typically written for readers aged 12 to 18 and includes most of the themes found in adult fiction, such as family dysfunction, substance abuse, alcoholism, and sexuality. It is characterized by simpler world build ...

, best known for ''Under a Painted Sky'' and ''Outrun the Moon''. Her works tend to be contemporary and historical fiction, with some magical elements.

Personal life

Lee is a fourth-generation Chinese-American. Her family on her mother's side originally came to America in the 1800s, but wasn't permitted to stay due to the

Chinese Exclusion Act The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was a United States Code, United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law made exceptions for travelers an ...

. Her father immigrated to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

in 1953. She grew up in southern California and has two sisters. Lee wrote her first novel when she was nine and says that she always wanted to become a writer. Lee graduated from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

and has a J.D. degree from UC Davis School of Law. She practiced law in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

for a few years prior to becoming an author. Lee is also the legal director of the non-profit organization We Need Diverse Books and is one of the founders of the movement. Lee is married and has two children, a daughter and a son.

Selected works

Her debut novel, ''Under a Painted Sky'', about a Chinese-American girl and an African-American girl who travel the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in North America that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail crossed what ...

during the

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, ...

was published in 2016. She was inspired to write ''Under the Painted Sky'' based on her complex family history in the 1800s and chose a Chinese-American protagonist who doesn't speak Chinese like her. Aside from similarities in the main character's upbringing and her own, she chose not to incorporate details of her family history into the novel. ''Outrun the Moon'', her second novel, set during the

1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 AM Pacific Time Zone, Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated Moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli inte ...

, about a Chinese-American teen struggling to escape her family's circle of poverty, was published the same year. She drew on her family history again for the novel and did field research traveling to various locations in the novel, among them

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

and the

Golden Gate Park Golden Gate Park is an urban park between the Richmond District, San Francisco, Richmond and Sunset District, San Francisco, Sunset districts on the West Side (San Francisco), West Side of San Francisco, California, United States. It is the Lis ...

. Her next novel, ''Luck of the Titanic'', about a Chinese teenager boarding the RMS ''Titanic'' secretly, due to the

in place, was published by G.P. Putnam's Books for Young Readers in May 2021. Lee's ''Winston Chu Duology'' will debut in 2022 with ''Winston Chu Versus the Whimsies.'' The series is based on

Chinese mythology Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature throughout the area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology encompasses a diverse array of myths derived from regional and cultural tradit ...

and will be published under the Rick Riordan Presents imprint.

Bibliography

Novels * ''Under a Painted Sky'' ( G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, 2016) * ''Outrun the Moon'' (G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, 2016) * ''The Secret of a Heart Note'' (Katherine Tegen Books, 2016) * ''The Downstairs Girl'' (G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, 2019) *''Luck of the Titanic'' (G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, 2021) Short stories * "Land of the Sweet, Home of the Brave" in ''The Radical Element'' ( Candlewick Press, 2018)

Awards

Won * 2016 SCBWI Crystal Kite Award for ''Under a Painted Sky'' * 2016-2017 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature for ''Outrun the Moon'' * 2017

PEN Center USA PEN Center USA was a branch of PEN International, a literary and human rights organization. It was one of two PEN International Centers in the United States, the other being PEN America in New York City. On March 1, 2018, PEN Center USA unified ...

Literary Award for Young Adult for ''Outrun the Moon'' Nominated * 2017-2018 Missouri Gateway Readers Award for ''Under a Painted Sky''

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Stacey Living people American women writers of young adult literature American writers of young adult literature Year of birth missing (living people) University of California, Los Angeles alumni American lawyers of Chinese descent 21st-century American women writers UC Davis School of Law alumni American novelists of Chinese descent American women children's writers American children's writers American women writers of Chinese descent