Fonda Lee

Fonda Lee (born March 10, 1979) is a Canadian-American author of speculative fiction. She is best known for writing The Green Bone Saga, the first of which, Jade City, won the 2018 World Fantasy Award and was named one of the 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time by Time magazine. The Green Bone Saga was also included on NPR's list, "50 Favorite Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of the Past Decade".

Biography Lee was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and resided in Portland, Oregon, and currently resides in the Boston area of the United States. She attended Stanford University where she earned her MBA.

Lee's 2017 short story "Old Souls", was published in Where the Stars Rise: Asian Science Fiction & Fantasy, and was nominated for the 2018 Aurora Award for Best Short Fiction and the 2018 World Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction. Lee's career continued as she published the Exo duology for young adults in 2017 and 2018; both novels were well-received critically.

Her debut novel for adults, Jade City, was the first in The Green Bone Saga. It was published by Orbit Books in 2017 to critical acclaim. Jade City won the 2018 World Fantasy Award and Aurora Award for Best Novel, and was a finalist for the 2017 Nebula Award for Best Novel and 2018 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel. Jade City was included on Time magazine's list "The Best Fantasy Books of All Time". In July 2022, it was announced that Peacock had canceled the project, but Lee shared on Twitter that the team were seeking another service to take it up.

Lee's fantasy novella Untethered Sky was published by Tor.com in April 2023.

In December 2022, Lee announced that she was collaborating with Shannon Lee (no relation), the daughter of the late actor and martial artist Bruce Lee, on a series of young adult fantasy novels inspired by Bruce Lee's writings. The first book, Breath of the Dragon, was published in January 2025 by Wednesday Books.

Orbit Books published Fonda Lee's "cyberpunk samurai space opera" novel The Last Contract of Isako in May 2026.

Awards

+ Year Work Award Category Result Ref 2015 Zeroboxer Andre Norton Award — 2017 ExoAndre Norton Award — Jade City Nebula Award Novel Jade City Aurora Award Novel World Fantasy Award Novel “Old Souls” Aurora Award Short Fiction Locus Award Young Adult Book 2020 "I (28M) Created a Deepfake Girlfriend" Locus Award Short Story Jade War Aurora Award Novel Dragon Awards Fantasy Novel Ignyte Awards Novel – Adult Locus Award Fantasy Novel Dragon Awards Fantasy Novel Locus Award Fantasy Novel The Green Bone Saga Hugo Award Series 2023 Untethered Sky Nebula Award Novella 2024 Aurora Award Novelette/Novella British Fantasy Award Novella 2026 Breath of the Dragon Aurora Award Aurora Award for Best YA Novel