{{Short description|American writer (born 1967)}}
{{Infobox writer | name = Alexander Chee | image = Alexander Chee 2018.jpg | imagesize = | alt = | caption = Chee at the 2018 Texas Book Festival | pseudonym = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1967|08|21}} | birth_place = South Kingston, Rhode Island, United States | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Writer | education = | alma_mater = Wesleyan University (BA)<br>Iowa Writers' Workshop, University of Iowa (MFA) | notableworks = ''Edinburgh''<br>''The Queen of the Night''<br>''How to Write an Autobiographical Novel'' | spouse = | website = {{URL|https://www.alexanderchee.net/}} | partner = | awards = Whiting Award (2003)<br>Guggenheim Fellow (2021) }} '''Alexander Chee''' (born August 21, 1967) is an American fiction writer, poet, journalist and reviewer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2010/06/28/writers-conference-draws-novelists-poets-journalists/ |title=Writers Conference Draws Novelists, Poets, Journalists |publisher=Newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu |date=2010-06-28 |access-date=2013-12-04}}</ref>
His critically acclaimed debut novel, ''Edinburgh,'' was awarded the Asian American Writers Workshop Literary Award, the Lambda Editor's Choice Prize, and the Michener/Copernicus Fellowship Prize. In 2003, ''Out'' named Chee one of their 100 Most Influential People of the year.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.arts.gov/writers-corner/bio/alexander-chee|title=Alexander Chee {{!}} NEA|website=www.arts.gov|access-date=2017-09-22|archive-date=2017-09-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922194640/https://www.arts.gov/writers-corner/bio/alexander-chee|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Born in Rhode Island, he spent his childhood in South Korea, Kauai, Truk, Guam and Maine.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.guernicamag.com/korean_enough_new_korean_ameri/|title=Korean Enough: Alexander Chee on New Korean American Fiction - Guernica|website=www.guernicamag.com|date=14 June 2008 |language=en-US|access-date=2017-09-22}}</ref> He attended Wesleyan University and the Iowa Writers' Workshop.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Alexander Chee’s Essays ‘Help You Hold On to the World’ |url=https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2019/02/alexander-chees-essays-help-you-hold-world |website=dartmouth.edu}} Retrieved May 25, 2026.</ref>
==Career== Chee's short fiction appeared in the anthologies ''Best American Erotica 2007, A Fictional History of the US (With Huge Chunks Missing), Men on Men 2000'', ''His 3,'' and his personal essays in'' Out, From Boys To Men, Loss Within Loss, Boys Like Us, The M Word,'' and ''The Man I Might Become.'' His essay "I, Reader" was selected for inclusion in the Notable Essays list of the 2011 edition of the ''Best American Essays'',<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=43XFNtW8qmYC&q=%22Alexander+Chee%22+and+%22Best+American+Essays%22&pg=PA234 |title=The Best American Essays 2011 – Google Books |isbn=978-0547479774 |access-date=2013-12-04|last1=Danticat |first1=Edwidge |last2=Atwan |first2=Robert |year=2011 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.themorningnews.org/article/i-reader |title=I, Reader |publisher=The Morning News |date=2007-11-21 |access-date=2013-12-04}}</ref> and his essay "Girl," was included in ''Best American Essays 2016.''<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://english.dartmouth.edu/people/alexander-chee|title=Alexander Chee {{!}} Department of English and Creative Writing|website=english.dartmouth.edu|date=20 September 2016 |language=en|access-date=2017-09-22}}</ref>
His short stories and essays have also appeared in magazines and journals such as ''The New York Times Book Review, Tin House, Slate, Guernica,'' NPR. Chee's poetry has appeared in ''Barrow Street'', ''LIT'', ''Interview'', the ''James White Review'', and ''XXX Fruit''.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://koreanish.wordpress.com/bio/|title=Bio|date=2015-03-11|work=Koreanish|access-date=2017-09-22|language=en-US}}</ref> He has written journalism and reviews for ''The New York Times'',<ref>{{cite news|title=Sunday Book Review – The Leftovers: ''Everything I Never Told You'' by Celeste Ng|first=Alexander|last=Chee|date=August 15, 2014|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/17/books/review/everything-i-never-told-you-by-celeste-ng.html|work=The New York Times}}</ref> ''Time Out New York'', ''Out/Look'', ''OutWeek'', ''The Advocate'', ''Out'', ''Bookforum'' and the ''San Francisco Review of Books''.
He was also the recipient of the 2003 Whiting Award, a 2004 NEA Fellowship, and a 2010 Massachusetts Cultural Council of the Arts Fellowship, as well as residency fellowships at the MacDowell Colony, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Civitella Ranieri, and Leidig House.<ref name=":0" /> He was a judge for the PEN Open Book Award in 2012<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pen.org/blog/announcing-2012-pen-literary-awards-recipients |title=Announcing the 2012 PEN Literary Award Recipients |date=October 15, 2012 |access-date=2013-02-06 |work=PEN American Center |archive-date=2016-04-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160408174941/http://www.pen.org/blog/announcing-2012-pen-literary-awards-recipients |url-status=dead }}</ref> and currently serves on the board of directors of the Authors' Guild of America. He was the recipient of the 2021 Guggenheim Fellowship in Fiction.<ref>{{cite web |title=Three Faculty Members Win 2021 Guggenheim Fellowships |url=https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2021/04/three-faculty-members-win-2021-guggenheim-fellowships |website=Dartmouth.edu }} Retrieved 2026-04-19.</ref>
Chee was the associate fiction editor of literary magazine ''The Nervous Breakdown'', and is currently a contributing editor at ''The New Republic'', an editor-at-large at ''VQR ''and ''The Lit Hub,'' and a critic-at-large for ''Los Angeles Times''.
He has taught fiction writing at The New School, Wesleyan, Iowa Writers' Workshop, Columbia University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Princeton University,<ref name=":1" /> and has served as a Visiting Writer at Amherst College.<ref>{{cite web|title=Novelist and Amherst College Visiting Writer Alexander Chee to Read from His Work at Amherst Books April 29|date=April 8, 2010|url=https://www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/news/news_releases/2010/04/node/189751|work=Amherst College}}</ref> In the winter semester 2012/2013 he was Picador Professor for Literature at the University of Leipzig.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://americanstudies.uni-leipzig.de/picador |title=The Picador Guest Professorship for Literature | American Studies Leipzig |publisher=Americanstudies.uni-leipzig.de |access-date=2013-12-04}}</ref> Chee is currently full professor of creative nonfiction and fiction writing at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.<ref name=":0" />
==Bibliography== === Novels === * {{cite book |last=Chee |first=Alexander |title=Edinburgh |title-link=Edinburgh (novel) |publisher=Picador USA |year=2001 |isbn=9780312305031 |location=New York |author-mask=2}} * {{cite book |last=Chee |first=Alexander |title=The Queen of the Night |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |year=2016 |isbn=9780618663026 |location=Boston |author-mask=2}}
=== Nonfiction === * {{cite book |last=Chee |first=Alexander |title=How to Write an Autobiographical Novel |publisher=Mariner Books |year=2018 |isbn=9781328764522 |location=Boston |author-mask=2}}
=== Anthology appearances === * {{cite book |date=1990 |title=Literature of Tomorrow |url=https://archive.org/details/literatureoftomo00murr |url-access=registration |publisher=Holt, Rinehart, and Winston |chapter=Memorials |isbn=978-0-03032-903-6}} * {{cite book |date=1996 |editor=Patrick Merla |title=Boys Like Us: Gay Writers Tell Their Coming Out Stories |url=https://archive.org/details/boyslikeusgaywri00merl |url-access=registration |publisher=Avon Books |isbn=978-0-38097-340-8 }} * {{cite book |date=1999 |title=His(3): Brilliant New Fiction by Gay Writers |url=https://archive.org/details/his3brilliantnew00drak |publisher=Faber & Faber |isbn=978-0-57119-963-1 }} * {{cite book |date=2004 |title=The "M" Word: Writers on Same-Sex Marriage |url=https://archive.org/details/mwordwritersonsa00pori |url-access=registration |publisher=Algonquin Books |isbn=978-1-56512-454-7 |chapter=41, 42, 43 }} * {{cite book |date=2006 |title=From Boys to Men: Gay Men Write About Growing Up |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AVb0iD00SqMC&q=from+boys+to+men+gay+men+write+about+growing+up |chapter=Dick |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-0-78671-632-6 }} * {{cite book |date=2021 |title=Sword Stone Table: Old Legends, New Voices |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/634028/sword-stone-table-by-edited-by-swapna-krishna-and-jenn-northington/ |chapter=Little Green Men |publisher=Vintage |isbn=978-0-59308-189-1 }} * {{cite book |date=2021 |title=Kink |url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Kink/R-O-Kwon/9781982110215 |chapter=Best Friendster Date Ever |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-1-9821-1021-5 }}
===Essays and stories=== * {{cite web |url=https://granta.com/portrait-of-my-father-chee/ |title=Portrait of My Father |date=12 March 2009 |website=Granta }} * {{cite web |url=http://www.themorningnews.org/article/go-away |title=Go Away |date=13 August 2012 |website=The Morning News }} * {{cite journal |date=Winter 2014 |title=Mr. and Mrs. B |url=http://blog.longreads.com/2015/06/18/mr-and-mrs-b/ |journal=Apology Magazine |volume=3 }} * {{cite web |url=https://www.guernicamag.com/features/girl/ |title=Girl |date=16 March 2015 |website=Guernica: A Magazine of Art and Politics }} * {{cite web |url=https://www.gq.com/story/korean-fathers-lessons-self-defense |title=What My Korean Father Taught Me About Defending Myself in America |date=14 May 2021 |website=GQ }}
===Film appearances=== * Interview in ''Sex Is...'' (1993), Directed by Marc Huestis, as himself
===Podcast appearances=== * ''LGBTQ&A'', "Alexander Chee: On Becoming An American Writer," April 23, 2018<ref name="stitcher">{{cite web|url=https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/panoply/lgbtqa/e/54218939?autoplay=true|title=LGBTQ&A - Alexander Chee: On Becoming An American Writer | Listen via Stitcher for Podcasts|website=stitcher.com|access-date=2019-11-12}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == * {{cite magazine |author=Acocella, Joan |author-link=Joan Acocella |date=February 22, 2016 |title=Night music : a novel of nineteenth-century Paris |department=The Critics. Books |magazine=The New Yorker |volume=92 |issue=2 |pages=74–76 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/02/22/alexander-chees-the-queen-of-the-night <!--|access-date=2023-05-29-->}}<ref group=lower-alpha>Title in the online table of contents is "Alexander Chee's operatic novel".</ref> ——————— ;Notes {{reflist|40em|group=lower-alpha}}
==External links== {{wikiquote}} * [http://koreanish.net/ Author's blog] * [http://www.whiting.org/awards/winners/alexander-chee#/ Profile] at The Whiting Foundation * [https://www.guernicamag.com/korean_enough_new_korean_ameri/ "Korean Enough: Alexander Chee on New Korean American Fiction"] by Alexander Chee, ''Guernica'', June 14, 2008 * [https://newrepublic.com/article/122091/future-queer-where-gay-america-going-next "Future Queer"] by Alexander Chee, ''The New Republic'', June 23, 2015
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chee, Alexander}} Category:Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni Category:American gay writers Category:American expatriates in South Korea Category:Living people Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:Wesleyan University alumni Category:American male journalists Category:American LGBTQ poets Category:LGBTQ people from Rhode Island Category:Writers from Rhode Island Category:American male poets Category:American LGBTQ people of Asian descent Category:1967 births Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:21st-century American poets Category:21st-century American male writers Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people Category:Gay poets