Lisa Lee: I’ve Lost Count of How Many Times I Revised the Book
In this interview, author Lisa Lee discusses the decade that went into the writing and publishing of her debut novel, American Han.
Lisa Lee is the recipient of the Marianne Russo Emerging Writer Award from the Key West Literary Seminar, an Emerging Writer Fellowship from the Center for Fiction, and a Pushcart Prize. She has received other fellowships and awards from Kundiman, Millay Arts, Hedgebrook, the Rona Jaffe Foundation, Tin House, Jentel Artist Residency, and the Korea Foundation. Her work has appeared in Ploughshares, VIDA, North American Review, Sycamore Review, Gulf Coast, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from the University of Houston and a PhD in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Southern California. She lives in Los Angeles. Follow her on Instagram.
In this interview, Lisa discusses the decade that went into the writing and publishing of her debut novel, American Han, her hope for readers, and more.
Name: Lisa Lee
Literary agent: Kirby Kim (Janklow & Nesbit)
Book title: American Han
Publisher: Algonquin/Little Brown
Release date: March 31, 2026
Genre/category: Literary Fiction
Elevator pitch: A piercing, clear-eyed, and darkly funny debut novel about one Korean American family vainly trying to assimilate in a country full of mixed signals. When the narrator’s brother goes missing, no one recognizes his absence as the warning sign it is, until it erupts in a moment that indicts them all.
What prompted you to write this book?
Many years ago, I went to law school. I finished, but decided I didn’t want to be a lawyer, and then went and got an MFA. As I came up with ideas for a book, I asked myself what I was looking for when I decided to leave behind the law degree and pursue creative writing. I realized that I wanted an understanding of this feeling that I didn’t have a name for, that had been running through me and my whole family like an undercurrent all our lives. And I wanted freedom, like what everyone in the book is looking for. For me, just like for my narrator, freedom doesn’t just mean being able to do what you want. It’s having the tools to understand your motivations and feelings.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
It took about 10 years. The book changed many times during the process. At first, I wrote a completely different book inspired by Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, starring Jane Kim and Margaret Cho’s mother. It wasn’t working, so I started over and wrote another draft focused on Jane’s coming-of-age and her relationship with her mother. Writing that, I realized that there was uncharted territory to explore with her brother Kevin and their dad. The book became about this unique family and the way that their history and living in America shapes their lives.
Were there any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this title?
There were lots of surprises. Surprise after surprise! The biggest surprise was how long it took from when my book was first sent out to when I had an actual book deal. First, there was an editor at a big publisher who expressed interest in the book, but what that meant was my book got taken off the market, they had the right of first refusal, and I couldn’t submit it to anyone else. By the time I’d revised and resubmitted it, almost a whole year had passed, and the house ended up rejecting it. Then I revised it again and my agent sent it out again, a year and a half after the first submission. By the way, the timing of submissions is very important—the summer is bad, I was told, as are the fall and winter. It seems that there aren’t many good windows for submitting a book! The happy ending to this saga is that my book found its way to the wonderful Kathy Pories at Algonquin, who helped me greatly with the novel’s structure. A year passed between our first meeting and getting a pub date because Algonquin got restaffed and moved to the Little, Brown imprint under Hachette, putting my book and probably others on hold. Altogether, from the time the book was first sent out to the pub date will be almost four years!
Were there any surprises in the writing process for this book?
It surprised me how long it took to write the book and how much of my life I had to give up to finish it. If before I’d begun someone had told me how long it would take, I wouldn’t have believed them, and I wouldn’t have believed that I’d put myself through that. But turns out I would! It was devastating when I’d realize that I needed to throw out yet another draft and start over. But my book kept changing and refocusing, and I’d have to begin again. Many years ago, my friend and mentor, Percival Everett, warned me, “You can’t write without knowing where you’re going. You need to know what you’re writing toward.” He was right and I didn’t listen. Later he said, “I know you’ll do it, but I don’t know how long it will take you.” I’ve lost count of how many times I revised the book. I’d still be revising if my publisher had let me.
What do you hope readers will get out of your book?
I hope that my book will help readers feel less alone. I think Korean American readers will connect to my book, but I also hope that readers with backgrounds different from mine will connect to the characters and themes. There are a lot of universal ideas—class striving, gender roles, masculinity, mothers and daughters, patriarchy, sibling rivalry, family life, and what we owe to our families and ourselves.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Be kind to yourself and keep writing. Your voice and your point of view matter.
