Yoon Ha Lee

Yoon Ha Lee (born 1979 in Houston, Texas) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer, known for his Machineries of Empire space opera novels and his short fiction. His first novel, Ninefox Gambit, received the 2017 Locus Award for Best First Novel.

Life Lee attended high school at Seoul Foreign School, an English-language international school, as his Korean American family lived in both Texas and South Korea. He went to college at Cornell University, majored in mathematics, and earned a master's degree in secondary mathematics education at Stanford University. He has worked as an analyst for an energy market intelligence company, done web design, and taught mathematics. Lee is a trans man.

Career Since his first sale in 1999, Lee has published short fiction in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, Lightspeed and elsewhere. Three of his stories have been reprinted in Gardner Dozois's The Year's Best Science Fiction anthologies. Dozois wrote that Lee is "one of those helping to move science fiction into the twenty-first century".

In 2012, Lee wrote Winterstrike, a browser-based text adventure game, for Failbetter Games.

Lee's short fiction has received praise from fellow authors and from literary awards organizations. Aliette de Bodard wrote the introduction for Conservation of Shadows and has twice recommended one of Lee's stories in her best of year-round-ups: she selected "Ghostweight" as a favorite of 2011 and "The Knight of Chains, the Deuce of Stars" was chosen in her 2013 eligibility and recommendations post as "the one that most blew me away this year". "Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain" and "Ghostweight" were nominated for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. Dragon Pearl won the 2020 Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book 2012 Theodore Sturgeon Award —

Conservation of Shadows Crawford Award — World Fantasy Award Short Fiction 2016 Ninefox Gambit Nebula Award Novel

Locus Award Novelette Compton Crook Award — Hugo Award Novel Locus Award First Novel

Hugo Award Novelette Locus Award Science Fiction Novel Revenant Gun BSFA Award Novel

Dragon Pearl Andre Norton Award — Machineries of Empire Hugo Award Series Hugo Award Novel Locus Award Science Fiction Novel

Locus Award Short Story

Locus Award Young Adult novel Lodestar Award — Mythopoeic Award Children's Literature Hexarchate Stories Locus Award Collection

Hugo Award Short Story Locus Award Short Story Theodore Sturgeon Award — 2023 Theodore Sturgeon Award — 2024

Andre Norton Award —

Ignyte Award Young Adult Novel Locus Award Young Adult Novel Lodestar Award — 2026 Starstrike Locus Award Young Adult Novel