Lily King

Lily King (born 1963) is an American novelist.

Early life King grew up in Massachusetts. She earned a B.A. in English literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an M.A. in creative writing from Syracuse University.

Work King's first novel, The Pleasing Hour (1999), won the Barnes and Noble Discover Award and was a New York Times Notable Book and an alternate for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Her second novel, The English Teacher, was a Publishers Weekly Top Ten Book of the Year, a Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year, and the winner of the Maine Fiction Award. Her third novel, Father of the Rain (2010), was a New York Times Editors Choice, a Publishers Weekly Best Novel of the Year, and winner of the New England Book Award for Fiction and the Maine Fiction Award.

King's fourth novel, Euphoria (2014), was inspired by events in the life of anthropologist Margaret Mead. and a Whiting Award. Her short fiction has appeared in literary magazines, including Ploughshares and Glimmer Train, as well as in anthologies. King's first collection of stories, Five Tuesdays in Winter, was published in 2021. Her 2025 essay "The Teenage Love That Changed My Life" appeared in Vogue.

Heart the Lover was longlisted for the 2025 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction.

Awards 2026 International Book of the Year, Australian Book Industry Awards for Heart the Lover 2021 Story Prize finalist for Five Tuesdays In Winter 2014 Kirkus Prize for Fiction for Euphoria 2014 National Book Critics Circle Award finalist for Euphoria