Lisa Ko

{{short description|American writer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name =  | honorific_suffix = | image = LisaKoDec2017.jpg | image_upright = | image_size =  | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | pronunciation = | birth_name =  | birth_date =  | birth_place = New York City, U.S. | nationality = | other_names = | citizenship = | education = Wesleyan University<br />San Jose State University<br />City College of New York | alma_mater = | occupation = Writer, editor | notable_works = ''The Leavers''<br /> ''Memory Piece'' | movement = | awards = PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, National Book Award for Fiction finalist | website = {{URL|http://lisa-ko.com/}} }} '''Lisa Ko''' is an American writer. Her debut novel, ''The Leavers'', was a national bestseller, won the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction and was a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award for Fiction. Her short fiction has been published in ''Best American Short Stories'' and ''McSweeney's'' and her essays in ''The New York Times'' and ''The Believer'''.'''''<ref name=nyt>Ko, Lisa, "Opinions: the Myth of the Interchangeable Asian," ''The New York Times,'' October 14, 2018</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Distancing #6: Rock 'n Soul Part 1 |url=https://www.thebeliever.net/logger/distancing-6-rock-n-soul-part-1/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=Believer Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> Ko's second novel, ''Memory Piece'', was published in 2024.

==Early life and education== Born in New York City, Ko grew up in suburban New Jersey, the only child of Chinese immigrants from the Philippines.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hong |first=Terry |date=May 2, 2017 |title='The Leavers,' inspired by a real story, confronts transracial adoption |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/Book-Reviews/2017/0502/The-Leavers-inspired-by-a-real-story-confronts-transracial-adoption |access-date=August 31, 2017 |work=Christian Science Monitor |issn=0882-7729}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-04-24 |title='The Leavers' novelist Lisa Ko found success through massive failure |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/leavers-novelist-lisa-ko-found-success-through-massive-failure-n750811 |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref> She began writing stories and keeping a journal at the age of five, though she only shared the work with others in high school. As a child, Ko and her parents ran a stand at craft shows and flea markets, an experience which later inspired her novel writing process.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ko |first=Lisa |date=2024-03-22 |title=Lisa Ko: How Writing a Novel is Like Wandering a Flea Market |url=https://lithub.com/lisa-ko-how-writing-a-novel-is-like-wandering-a-flea-market/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=Literary Hub |language=en-US}}</ref> She attended Wesleyan University, majoring in English.

Ko moved back to New York City in the late 1990s, where she worked in print magazines and had an early online diary called Incommunicado.net.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zhang |first=Cat |date=2024-03-27 |title=Lisa Ko's Memory Piece Is for the 'Asian American Art Weirdos' |url=https://www.thecut.com/article/lisa-ko-memory-piece-book-interview.html |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=The Cut |language=en}}</ref> She took writing classes after work, including one at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop taught by Jhumpa Lahiri where her classmates included Cathy Park Hong, Ed Lin, and Min Jin Lee.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Luo |first=Michael |date=2022-02-17 |title=What Min Jin Lee Wants Us to See |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/what-min-jin-lee-wants-us-to-see |access-date=2024-12-04 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}}</ref> She lived in San Francisco in the early 2000s, where she was one of the founders of ''Hyphen'' magazine, serving as books editor.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hung |first=Melissa |date=May 28, 2017 |title=Interview with "The Leavers" Author Lisa Ko |url=https://hyphenmagazine.com/blog/2017/05/interview-leavers-author-lisa-ko |access-date=August 31, 2017 |work=Hyphen Magazine |language=en}}</ref>

Ko earned a master's degree in library and information sciences from San Jose State University in 2005 while working at a film production company.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Spartan Bookshelf – Washington Square: The Stories of San Jose State University |url=https://blogs.sjsu.edu/wsq/2018/05/14/spartan-bookshelf-7/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=blogs.sjsu.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ko |first=Lisa |date=2017-05-03 |title=Not Finishing My Novel Would Have Ruined My Life |url=https://lithub.com/not-finishing-my-novel-would-have-ruined-my-life/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=Literary Hub |language=en-US}}</ref> She then received a Master of Fine Arts from the City College of New York in 2012, taking classes at night while working three day jobs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=York |first=The City College of New |date=March 23, 2017 |title=Noted CCNY creative writing alums on how to get published |url=https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/news/noted-ccny-creative-writing-alums-how-get-published |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=The City College of New York |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ko |first=Lisa |date=2017-05-03 |title=Not Finishing My Novel Would Have Ruined My Life |url=https://lithub.com/not-finishing-my-novel-would-have-ruined-my-life/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=Literary Hub |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Career== Ko's writing has been described as "exquisite," "draw[ing] characters with such deftness that they feel wholly alive."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gray-Grant |first=Daphne |date=2021-12-30 |title=The figurative language of Lisa Ko... |url=https://www.publicationcoach.com/lisa-ko/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=Publication Coach |language=en-CA}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=McGuire |first=Nneka |date=March 16, 2024 |title=A novel as ambitious as a 'Great British Baking' showstopper |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/03/16/memory-piece-lisa-ko-novel-review/ |access-date=December 4, 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> Her nonfiction has been called "revealing and wickedly perceptive."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-04-06 |title=Lisa Ko - Lyceum Agency |url=https://www.lyceumagency.com/speakers/lisa-ko/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |language=en-US}}</ref> Her writing often features music.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zhang |first=Cat |date=2024-03-27 |title=Lisa Ko's Memory Piece Is for the 'Asian American Art Weirdos' |url=https://www.thecut.com/article/lisa-ko-memory-piece-book-interview.html |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=The Cut |language=en}}</ref> She has been referred to as "one of the few more popular contemporary Asian American writers whose writing does not pander to white audiences."<ref>{{Cite web |last=vietgirlreads |date=February 29, 2024 |title=Lisa Ko's books are SO original and SO good |url=https://www.tiktok.com/@vietgirlreads/video/7341179462517591338 |access-date=December 4, 2024 |website=TikTok}}</ref>

In an interview in ''Electric Literature'', Ko says that her novels "look at the relationship of Asian Americans to the US imperial project. They both also touch on the gap and tension between the stories we are told and stories we tell ourselves, and the importance—and complications—of community."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lit |first=Intern Electric |date=2024-04-09 |title=Lisa Ko on Making Memory Under Capitalism |url=https://electricliterature.com/lisa-ko-memory-piece-novel-interview/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=Electric Literature |language=en-US}}</ref>

Ko is the recipient of fellowships from Hedgebrook, MacDowell, the Black Mountain Institute at the University of Nevada, Ucross, Blue Mountain Center, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, among others.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-11-03 |title=AAWW at 30: In the Heart |url=https://aaww.org/curation/aaww-at-30-in-the-heart/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=Asian American Writers' Workshop |language=en-US}}</ref> She has been a guest speaker at many schools, book festivals, and universities and has taught creative writing at Indiana University, the New School, the City College of New York, the One Story Summer Writers Conference, and in many community settings.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-11-03 |title=AAWW at 30: In the Heart |url=https://aaww.org/curation/aaww-at-30-in-the-heart/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=Asian American Writers' Workshop |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2019, she taught in the DREAMing Out Loud program at Queens College.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CUNY Partners With Pen America to Expand 'Dreaming Out Loud' Program, Providing Paid Writing Workshops to Students, Community Members |url=https://www.cuny.edu/news/cuny-partners-with-pen-america-to-expand-dreaming-out-loud-program-providing-paid-writing-workshops-to-students-community-members/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=The City University of New York |language=en}}</ref> Her work is often taught in high school and college classes throughout the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Department of English |url=https://www.english.upenn.edu/courses/undergraduate/2024/spring/engl3214.301 |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=www.english.upenn.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Negotiating Identities Part 2, (Second half of Lisa Ko's The Leavers) Week 11 Context Presentation {{!}} Comparative Studies 1100 Autumn 2021_Mahmoudi.4 |url=https://u.osu.edu/mahmoudi-4/2021/10/30/negotiating-identities-part-2-second-half-of-lisa-kos-the-leavers-week-11-context-presentation/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=u.osu.edu}}</ref>

=== ''The Leavers'' === Ko published her first novel, ''The Leavers'', with Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill in 2017<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/lisa-ko/the-leavers/|title=THE LEAVERS by Lisa Ko|date=January 23, 2017|work=Kirkus Books|access-date=August 31, 2017}}</ref> after winning the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. Established by Barbara Kingsolver, the prize awards $25,000 as well as a book contract for a work of previously unpublished fiction engaging social justice topics.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Cha|first1=Steph|title=The immigrant novel, 2017: Lisa Ko's 'The Leavers' shines a light on ugly truths|url=http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-leavers-lisa-ko-20170608-story.html|accessdate= August 28, 2017|work=Los Angeles Times|date= June 8, 2017}}</ref> Ko submitted her novel for the prize after working on it for seven years, as part of her goal to receive 50 literary-related rejections in one year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ReadUP author Lisa Ko shares inspiration behind "The Leavers" |url=https://www.upbeacon.com/article/2020/02/read-up-lisa-ko-talk |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=The Beacon |language=en-US}}</ref> The book follows Polly, an undocumented immigrant from China to the United States, and her son Deming, who is adopted by a white couple when Polly goes missing.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/05/lisa-ko-the-leavers.html|title=Lisa Ko Talks Immigration, Fractured Families and The Leavers|last=Miller|first=Stuart|date=May 12, 2017|work=Paste Magazine|access-date=August 31, 2017|language=en}}</ref>

''The Leavers'' was inspired by a 2009 ''New York Times'' story about an undocumented immigrant woman who was held, largely in solitary confinement, for more than a year and a half.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Weiss-Meyer|first1=Amy|title='The Leavers' Is a Wrenching Tale of Parenthood|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/05/lisa-ko-the-leavers-book-review/526179/|accessdate=August 28, 2017|work=The Atlantic|date= May 14, 2017}}</ref> Reviewing the book in ''The New York Times'', Gish Jen said Ko's book "has taken the headlines and reminded us that beyond them lie messy, brave, extraordinary, ordinary lives."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Jen|first1=Gish|title=Migration, a Makeshift Family, and Then a Disappearance|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/books/review/the-leavers-by-lisa-ko.html?mcubz=3&_r=0|accessdate=August 28, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=May 16, 2017}}</ref>

''The Leavers'' was a 2017 finalist for the National Book Award for fiction.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2017-national-book-award-finalists/|title=2017 National Book Award finalists revealed|date=October 4, 2017|work=CBS News|access-date=October 4, 2017|language=en}}</ref> The judges’ citation called it "a bold reinvention of the Asian immigrant novel as great American novel."<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Leavers |url=https://www.nationalbook.org/books/the-leavers/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=National Book Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> It was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award and won the Asian Pacific American Award for Adult Fiction.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Kirk Wallace |title=Shelf Awareness for Monday, April 2, 2018 |url=https://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=3218 |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=www.shelf-awareness.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.apalaweb.org/2017-2018-awards-winners/ |title= 2017-2018 Awards Winners |work= APALA |date= February 11, 2018 |access-date= December 11, 2023 |archive-date= December 11, 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231211182008/https://www.apalaweb.org/2017-2018-awards-winners/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

The novel was a national best seller and named one of the best books of the year by NPR, ''Entertainment Weekly'', Buzzfeed, ''The Los Angeles Times'', ''Electric Literature'' and the ''Irish Times''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-11-03 |title=AAWW at 30: In the Heart |url=https://aaww.org/curation/aaww-at-30-in-the-heart/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=Asian American Writers' Workshop |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== ''Memory Piece'' === In 2024, Ko published her second novel, ''Memory Piece'', with Riverhead Books. The book was inspired by early internet culture, performance art, malls, and the challenges of surveillance capitalism.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ko |first=Lisa |date=2024-03-22 |title=Lisa Ko: How Writing a Novel is Like Wandering a Flea Market |url=https://lithub.com/lisa-ko-how-writing-a-novel-is-like-wandering-a-flea-market/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=Literary Hub |language=en-US}}</ref> Described as "queer not only in content but in form" and "a book about the triumph of community, friendship, and love," the novel follows three friends, a performance artist, a tech coder, and a housing activist, from the 1980s to the 2040s, using New York City as a microcosm of the larger political economy of the US.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Upadhyaya |first=Kayla Kumari |date=2024-05-13 |title='Memory Piece' Understands the Power of an Archive |url=https://www.autostraddle.com/memory-piece-understands-the-power-of-an-archive/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=Autostraddle |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dazed |date=2024-03-26 |title=New novel Memory Piece imagines life in a dystopian New York |url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/62261/1/memory-piece-lisa-ko-book-interview |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=Dazed |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Author Lisa Ko on 'Memory Piece' (Get Lit) {{!}} All Of It |url=https://www.wnyc.org/story/author-lisa-ko-on-memory-piece-get-lit/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=WNYC |language=en}}</ref>

Lily Meyer, writing for ''The Atlantic'', says that "''Memory Piece'' asks what hopes are worth clinging to, what parts of society are worth participating in, what powers are worth putting in the energy to fight. It belongs to an American literary tradition that includes Dana Spiotta, George Saunders, and their patron saint, Don DeLillo: writers whose characters sense that their lives happen at the whim of forces too enormous to understand or evade, but set out to dodge them anyway."

At ''The Guardian'', Holly Williams noted that "Ko writes with a cool, collected intelligence and is unafraid to wrangle big ideas."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Williams |first=Holly |date=2024-03-24 |title=Memory Piece by Lisa Ko review – anxiety hums off the page in dystopian New York story |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/mar/24/memory-piece-by-lisa-ko-review-anxiety-hums-off-the-page-in-dystopian-new-york-story-the-leavers |access-date=2024-12-04 |work=The Observer |language=en-GB |issn=0029-7712}}</ref>

Barack Obama named ''Memory Piece'' as one of the selections on his Summer 2024 Reading List.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Foundation |first=Obama |title=President Obama's favorite films, books, and music of 2024 |url=https://www.obama.org/stories/president-obamas-favorite-books-and-music-summer-2024 |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=Obama Foundation |language=en}}</ref> Emma Roberts selected the book as the April 2024 read for the Belletrist Book Club.<ref>{{Cite web |title=See all of Emma Roberts and Karah Preiss' 2024 Belletrist Book Club Selections |url=https://people.com/emma-roberts-book-club-belletrist-see-all-of-her-2024-picks-8725308 |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=People.com |language=en}}</ref> It received Best Book of the Year honors from ''Time'', NPR, and ''Vogue'' and was longlisted for the New American Voices Prize.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Memory Piece by Lisa Ko: 9780593542101 {{!}} PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/712665/memory-piece-by-lisa-ko/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=PenguinRandomhouse.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Book |first=Fall for the |date=2024-07-30 |title=2024 New American Voices Award Longlist |url=https://fallforthebook.org/2024navlonglist/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=Fall for the Book Festival |language=en}}</ref>

===Albany Book Festival === Along with writer Aisha Gawad, Ko shared concerns about a panel scheduled for September 2024 at the Albany Book Festival, sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute. News outlets published emails sent to Elisa Albert by the Writers Institute's Assistant Director Mark Koplik, who claimed Gawad and Ko didn’t "want to be on a panel with a ‘Zionist.’”[https://www.wamc.org/news/2024-09-20/albany-book-festival-panel-scrapped-amid-apparent-disagreement-over-israel] PEN America issued a statement that said, “It is deeply distressing that any writer would be denied the opportunity to speak and engage in conversation about their craft because of their identity.”<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-09-22 |title=PEN America: "Tragic and Outrageous" That Albany Book Festival Canceled |url=https://pen.org/press-release/pen-america-tragic-and-outrageous-that-albany-book-festival-cancels-panel/ |access-date=2025-01-06 |website=PEN America |language=en-US}}</ref> However Ko said she neither refused to be on the panel nor used the word ‘Zionist’, and that she only privately expressed her support for Gawad, who chose to withdraw from the panel due to a series of social media and published articles written by Albert, the panel’s moderator, on the Gaza war.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-11-27 |title=Hundreds of authors have signed an open letter in support of Lisa Ko. |url=https://lithub.com/hundreds-of-authors-have-signed-an-open-letter-in-support-of-lisa-ko/ |access-date=2025-01-06 |website=Literary Hub |language=en-US}}</ref> Ko told the Times Union, “I never refused to participate on the panel, and the accusation that I withdrew because the moderator is Jewish, or that I am unwilling to appear onstage with someone who is Jewish, is hurtful and completely false...misinformation that has gone on to foster an increasingly hostile response toward myself and others, including defamation and death threats.”<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tine |first=Patrick |date=2024-09-25 |title=Authors speak out after book festival firestorm |url=https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/authors-speak-book-festival-firestorm-19791919.php?utm_content=hed&sid=653691a95b2e4b26040825df&ss=A&st_rid=86e2a508-fa58-4327-a8b1-8a0d9ad83695&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=headlines&utm_campaign=altu%20%7C%20the%20knick |access-date=2024-11-26 |website=Times Union |language=en}}</ref>

On December 6, 2024, PEN added a lead-in to its updated statement: "An earlier version of this press release responded to reporting that has since been disputed by both Lisa Ko and Aisha Abdel Gawad. They have stated that their comments and the reason for the cancellation of the event in question have been misrepresented. The Writers Institute has also since apologized to all the panel participants for “not treating this programming with the careful consideration it needed and for any consequences they faced as a result.” The press release below has been revised accordingly. We regret that the initial statement did not reflect these writers’ accounts. We also condemn the threats and harassment Ko and Gawad have faced in the wake of this incident, as well as loss of livelihood, one instance of which PEN America spoke out against in September." [https://pen.org/press-release/pen-america-tragic-and-outrageous-that-albany-book-festival-cancels-panel/]

An open letter organized by Viet Thanh Nguyen calls on the New York State Writers Institute to issue a "full correction" for “the misinformation they circulated” regarding Ko and Gawad.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-11-27 |title=Hundreds of authors have signed an open letter in support of Lisa Ko. |url=https://lithub.com/hundreds-of-authors-have-signed-an-open-letter-in-support-of-lisa-ko/ |access-date=2025-01-06 |website=Literary Hub |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Awards and honors == {| class="wikitable sortable" !Year !Title !Award !Category !Result !Ref. |- !2016 | rowspan="8" |''The Leavers'' |PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction |— |{{Won}} |<ref>{{Cite web |last=kanopi_admin |date=2016-02-23 |title=2016 PEN Literary Award Winners |url=https://pen.org/2016-pen-literary-award-winners/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=PEN America |language=en-US}}</ref> |- ! rowspan="3" |2017 |Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature |Adult Fiction |{{Won}} |<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-02-11 |title=2017-2018 AWARDS WINNERS – APALA |url=https://www.apalaweb.org/2017-2018-awards-winners/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |language=en-US}}</ref> |- |Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award |Fiction |{{Sho}} |<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mangan |first=Christine |title=Shelf Awareness for Thursday, March 8, 2018 |url=https://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=3200 |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=www.shelf-awareness.com}}</ref> |- |National Book Award |Fiction |{{Sho}} |<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lisa Ko |url=https://www.nationalbook.org/people/lisa-ko/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=National Book Foundation |language=en-US}}</ref> |- ! rowspan="3" |2018 |Aspen Words Literary Prize |— |{{Nominated|Longlisted}} |<ref>{{Cite web |last=Travers |first=Andrew |date=2017-12-12 |title=Aspen Words announces longlist for new literary prize, faculty for Summer Words |url=https://www.aspentimes.com/entertainment/aspen-words-announces-longlist-for-new-literary-prize-faculty-for-summer-words/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=www.aspentimes.com |language=en-US}}</ref> |- |New York City Book Awards Hornblower Award for First Book |— |{{Won}} |<ref>{{Cite web |title=The 2017-2018 New York City Book Awards {{!}} The New York Society Library |url=https://www.nysoclib.org/2017-2018-new-york-city-book-awards |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=www.nysoclib.org}}</ref> |- |PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel |— |{{Sho}} |<ref>{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Kirk Wallace |title=Shelf Awareness for Monday, April 2, 2018 |url=https://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=3218 |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=www.shelf-awareness.com}}</ref> |- !2019 |International Dublin Literary Award |— |{{Nominated|Longlisted}} |<ref>{{Cite web |last=IGO |date=2019-09-03 |title=The Leavers |url=https://dublinliteraryaward.ie/the-library/books/the-leavers/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=Dublin Literary Award |language=en-US}}</ref> |- ! rowspan="2" |2024 | rowspan="2" |''Memory Piece'' |Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize |— |{{Nominated|Longlisted}} |<ref>{{Cite web |title=Joyce Carol Oates Prize Longlist Announced |url=https://www.newliteraryproject.org/whats-new/joyce-carol-oates-prize-longlist-announced |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=New Literary Project |language=en-US}}</ref> |- |New American Voices Award |— |{{Nominated|Longlisted}} |<ref>{{Cite web |last=Book |first=Fall for the |date=2024-07-30 |title=2024 New American Voices Award Longlist |url=https://fallforthebook.org/2024navlonglist/ |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=Fall for the Book Festival |language=en}}</ref> |}

== Selected works ==

=== Novels === * {{Cite book |title=The Leavers |title-link=The Leavers |publisher=Algonquin Books |year=2017 |isbn=9781616206888}} * {{Cite book |title=Memory Piece |publisher=Riverhead Books |year=2024 |isbn=9780593542101}}

=== Short stories ===

* [https://store.mcsweeneys.net/products/mcsweeney-s-issue-68 "Celestial City"] in ''McSweeney's'' * "[https://bookshop.org/p/books/small-odysseys-selected-shorts-presents-35-new-stories-hannah-tinti/17215531 Nightlife"] in ''Small Odysseys: Selected Shorts'' * [https://www.amazon.com/Contractors-Out-Line-collection-ebook/dp/B08DXG5Z36 "The Contractors"] * [https://copper-nickel.org/pat-sam/ "Pat + Sam"] in ''Copper Nickel'' and ''Best American Short Stories 2016'' * [https://one-story.com/product/proper-girls/ "Proper Girls"] in ''One Story''

=== Essays ===

* [https://lithub.com/lisa-ko-how-writing-a-novel-is-like-wandering-a-flea-market/ "How Writing a Novel is Like Wandering a Flea Market"] in Literary Hub * [https://therumpus.net/2024/06/19/dream-futures/ "Dream Futures"] in ''The Rumpus'' * [https://www.thebeliever.net/logger/distancing-6-rock-n-soul-part-1/ "Distancing #6: Rock ’n Soul Part 1"] in ''The Believer'' * [https://truthout.org/articles/literary-institutions-are-pressuring-authors-to-remain-silent-about-gaza/ "Literary Institutions Are Pressuring Authors to Remain Silent About Gaza"] in ''TruthOut'' * [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/30/style/modern-love-seeking-the-comfort-of-an-old-flame-solitude.html "Seeking the Comfort of an Old Flame: Solitude"] in ''The New York Times'' * [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/06/opinion/sunday/what-white-food-meant-to-a-first-generation-kid.html "What 'White' Food Meant to a First-Generation Kid"] in ''The New York Times'' * [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/13/opinion/sunday/harvard-and-the-myth-of-the-interchangeable-asian.html "Harvard and the Myth of the Interchangeable Asian"] in ''The New York Times'' * [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/21/opinion/sunday/an-american-woman-quits-smiling.html "An American Woman Quits Smiling"] in ''The New York Times'' * [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/24/opinion/chanel-miller-know-my-name.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage "Why It Matters That ‘Emily Doe’ in the Brock Turner Case Is Asian-American"] in ''The New York Times'' * [https://lithub.com/not-finishing-my-novel-would-have-ruined-my-life/ "Not Finishing My Novel Would Have Ruined My Life"] in Literary Hub * [https://theoffingmag.com/essay/20-lessons-american/ "20 Lessons on How to Be American"] in ''The Offing''

=== Book reviews ===

* [https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/10/05/viet-thanh-nguyen-memoir-sympathizer/ "An audacious memoir from Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of '''The Sympathizer''<nowiki/>'"] in ''The Washington Post'' * [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/30/books/review/kim-fu-lost-girls-of-camp-forevermore.html "After a Camping Trip, Five Girls' Lives Are No Longer the Same"] in ''The New York Times Book Review'' * [https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/war-fractures/ "War Fractures"] in ''Los Angeles Review of Books''

== References == {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://lisa-ko.com/ Official website] {{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ko, Lisa}} Category:Living people Category:21st-century American novelists Category:Wesleyan University alumni Category:Writers from Brooklyn Category:American writers of Chinese descent Category:Novelists from New York (state) Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:21st-century American women novelists Category:San Jose State University alumni