“One of Singapore’s most inventive literary voices” (F Zine), Wen-yi Lee is the author of The Dark We Know (Gillian Flynn Books), a gothic YA horror inspired by Spring Awakening, and When They Burned the Butterfly (Tor/Wildfire), an adult historical fantasy duology about postcolonial Singapore’s Chinese secret societies. A Clarion West Workshop alum, her short fiction and essays have appeared in Lightspeed, Uncanny, Strange Horizons, Nightmare, and Reactor, among others, as well as best-of collections and anthologies including Best New Singapore Short Stories and the USA Today-bestselling Amplitudes: Stories of Queer and Trans Futurity. Her work usually revolves around problem women, haunted bodies, and history.
Her work has been supported by the Carl Brandon Society’s Octavia E Butler Memorial Scholarship, the UK National Centre for Writing, and the National Arts Council of Singapore. She is a graduate of University College London. Outside of writing, she has also worked in the publishing scene, helped organise literary festivals, and is the current managing editor of prose.sg, a literary archive of Singaporean writers. She has also mentored unpublished writers to develop their manuscripts through programmes like Author Mentor Match and Write Team Mentors.
Her writing has been commissioned by National Gallery Singapore, The Straits Times, and the Nanyang Technological University, in collaboration with the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office.
(Photo: Gianna Chun)
Short bio: Wen-yi Lee is the author of When They Burned the Butterfly and The Dark We Know. Her work often speculates on troubling women, troubled history, bodies, and ghosts, and has appeared in short form in venues like Lightspeed, Uncanny, Strange Horizons, Reactor, and various anthologies. She has been supported by the Clarion West Octavia E Butler Scholarship, the National Arts Council of Singapore, and the National Centre for Writing in the UK. She is currently based in Singapore. Find her on socials @wenyilee_ and otherwise at wenyileewrites.com.
High resolution headshots and book covers, as well as author bios of different lengths, can be found here.