Lee Lai

Lee Lai (born 1993) is a transgender, Asian-Australian cartoonist who presently lives in Canada. In 2021, the National Book Foundation named her an honoree of their 5 Under 35 award for her debut graphic novel, Stone Fruit . The following year, Stone Fruit won the Lambda Literary Award for Graphic Novel/Comics, and was a finalist for the Barbara Gittings Literature Award and Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Graphic Novel/Comics.

Biography

Lai was born in 1993 in Melbourne ^[1] and has a sister, with whom she is close. ^[2] She presently lives in Montreal. ^[1]

Lai became interested in comics because of mild dyslexia, which made reading traditional novels difficult. ^[3] Her short story comics have been published in The New Yorker, The Lifted Brow, Room Magazine, and Everyday Feminism. ^[1]

Lai is transgender ^[3] and homosexual. ^[2]

Awards and honours

Year	Title	Award	Result	Ref.
2020	Heartwood	Prism Award for Anthology	Winner	[4]
2021	Stone Fruit	American Library Association's Best Graphic Novels for Adults	Top 10	[5]
		Ignatz Award for Outstanding Artist	Winner	[6]
		Ignatz Award for Outstanding Graphic Novel	Winner
		National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 Award	Honoree	[1]
2022		Barbara Gittings Literature Award	Honor	[7]
		Cartoonist Studio Prize	Winner	[8]
		Doug Wright Award for Best Book	Finalist	[9]
		Lambda Literary Award for Graphic Novel/Comics	Finalist	[10] [11]
		Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Graphic Novel/Comics	Finalist	[12]
	American Library Association's Over the Rainbow Book List	Top 10	[13]
	Stella Prize	Shortlist	[14]

Publications

• Stone Fruit (2021)

Contributions

• Heartwood: Non-binary Tales of Sylvan Fantasy, edited by Joamette Gil (2019)
• McSweeney's #62: The Queer Fiction Issue, edited by Patrick Cottrell, Dave Eggers (Editor), and Claire Boyle (Editor) (2020)

Illustrations

• A Head-Heart Start For Life: Creative Mindful Discoveries for Young Children, written by Janet Etty-Leal (2019)

References

1. "Lee Lai". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
2. Favreau, Alyssa (2021-09-01). "'No Villains, Only Messes': An Interview with Lee Lai". Hazlitt. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
3. MacDonald, Heidi (2021-05-18). "Honest and Emotional: Lee Lai's Graphic Novel Debut". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
4. "The Prism Awards for Excellence in LGBTQ+ Comics". Prism Comics. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
5. "2021 Best Graphic Novels for Adults Reading List". American Library Association. 2022-01-23. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
6. Chiu-Tabet, Christopher (September 19, 2021). "2021 Ignatz Awards Winners Announced". Archived from the original on September 20, 2021.
7. Chapman, Monica (2022-02-01). "2022 Barbara Gittings Literature Award and Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award of the Stonewall Book Awards announced". American Library Association. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
8. "Stone Fruit". Fantagraphics. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
9. Tobias, Conan (2022-05-16). "Announcing the nominees of the 18th annual Doug Wright Awards". Doug Wright Awards. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
10. Gaynor, Jessie (2022-03-16). "Here are the finalists for the 2022 Lambda Literary Awards". Literary Hub. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
11. Lewis, LeKesha (2022-03-15). "2022 Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
12. "L.A Times Book Prizes 2022". Festival of Books. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
13. Chapman, Monica (2022-02-15). "Over the Rainbow Committee announces 2022 Top 10 Book List". American Library Association. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
14. "Announcing the 2022 Stella Prize Shortlist". Stella. 2022-04-14. Retrieved 2022-06-06.