Born and educated in Seoul, Mirinae Lee studied English Literature in the United States before settling in Hong Kong, where she has pursued a literary career in English. In 2023, she debuted with her first novel, 8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster (Virago, 2023), a novel based on the figure of her great-aunt that touches on issues of identity, survival, and the silenced history of the Korean people since the Japanese occupation during World War II. The novel earned international recognition, with notable awards such as the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing in 2024 – the first Korean author to be awarded this recognition, and it was included on the long list for the 2024 Women’s Prize for Fiction in the UK.

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