Lee Cole | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | |
| Period | 2020–present |
| Notable works |
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| Website | |
| leecolebooks | |
Lee Cole is an American author. His debut novel, Groundskeeping , was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2022. His second novel, Fulfillment, was published by Knopf in 2025. [1]
Cole was born to Amanda Orr and Hal Cole in Paducah, Kentucky, and raised in the area. He has a sister, Madelyn Carpenter. He lived for a time in Louisville. [2] He started out at the University of Kentucky, transferred to the University of Missouri–St. Louis, and graduated from the University of Louisville. [2] He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he studied from 2017 to 2019. [2] [3]
Cole's first novel, Groundskeeping , about an aspiring writer who moves back to his home state of Kentucky, where he works as a groundskeeper at a local college and enrolls in a creative writing workshop, was published by Knopf on March 1, 2022. [4] It was a Read with Jenna pick by Jenna Bush Hager. [5] His second novel, Fulfillment, about two half-brothers, one an academic, the other dreaming of becoming a screenwriter, was published by Knopf on June 17, 2025. The novel was inspired in part by the three years Cole spent working nights at a UPS hub, imagining his life if he had stayed at that type of job. [6] [7] [8]