wen-yi lee

I expect nothing less from the brilliant @amalelmohtar.com, but this is gorgeous and heartbreaking in every way. You all should read it.

Free Palestine.

Why I Need the Birds A Love Letters Feature by Amal El-Mohtar - November 2025

Today's Love Letter is a stunning meditation on birdwatching and the loss of a friendship, from the one and only @amalelmohtar.com

stone-soup.ghost.io/love-letter-...

The Name Ziya - Reactor A girl reckons with what she must lose--and who she has become--in order to be accepted at the empire's most prestigious university.

On the surface, a dark academia story with a vicious bite and wistful reminiscence. Beneath the surface, a raw aching memory for anyone who had once sacrificed a part of themselves to survive and thrive on hostile soil.

Really love this story by @wenyilee.bsky.social

thank you champ!! 💕

thank you!!

Tender Is the Flesh-Eating: The Literary Cannibal as Exploitation and Desire - Reactor Wen-yi Lee examines the teeth of fictional cannibalism

"Consider the contemporary cannibal as metaphor. There’s a long artistic tradition of using physical appetite to symbolise emotional appetite...be it wanting to exploit, wanting to enact revenge, or wanting as loving desire." @wenyilee.bsky.social reactormag.com/tender-is-th...

this was SO fun to write 🍽🥩

The Name Ziya - Reactor A girl reckons with what she must lose--and who she has become--in order to be accepted at the empire's most prestigious university.

As part of our module on imperialism, our reading group's fiction selection was "The Name Ziya," a short story by @wenyilee.bsky.social.

<1 hr to finish. Packed with powerful, true-to-reality themes, some obvious, others nuanced. Perfect for a Sunday read and for discussion with comrades.

thanks so much for reading!!

13 Works of Sapphic Asian Historical Fiction by @wenyilee.bsky.social

debutiful.net/2025/10/24/1...

Girl Gangs, Found Families, and Creating Kinship Outside of the Mainstream In this PEN Ten interview, Wen-yi Lee Lee highlights the parallels between sworn gang families and queer found families.

In the PEN Ten interview, @wenyilee.bsky.social discusses her new novel, When They Burned the Butterfly (@tordotcom.bsky.social, 2025), the importance of community, using prose to express emotion, and how a mysterious fire from the ‘60s played a role in Singaporean history. pen.org/wen-yi-lee-t...

Sley House Presents Episode #172: When They Burned the Butterfly with Wen-yi Lee. Episode is available on all major podcasting platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

New episode!

Join in with @wenyilee.bsky.social as we talk WHEN THEY BURNED THE BUTTERFLY, her book about a girl gang in 1970s Singapore. We talk fantasy, nation-building, marginalization, and more in this episode of the show.

Find us at Sley House Presents where you podcast! Links below:

WHEN THEY BURNED THE BUTTERFLY is out today!!! it's a dark sapphic fantasy about a girl gang with a fire god in 70s Singapore, about female rage and claiming your own places.

to the complex girls and to home. yours to read now, I hope you enjoy ❤️🦋

Wen-Yi Lee's When They Burned The Butterfly is Luminous and Inspired - The Fandomentals When They Burned The Butterfly is a dark, lyrical, and deeply affecting adult debut from Wen-yi Lee. The novel weaves together fantasy, folklore, and the

The Dark We Know author @wenyilee.bsky.social makes her adult debut with When They Burned The Butterfly, a "mythical, intimate" tale of colonialism and folklore set in 1972 Singapore. Checkout @unstablebooks.bsky.social full review now:
www.thefandomentals.com/wen-yi-lees-...

The Dark, Reactor, and Weird Horror: Short Fiction Reviews by Paula Guran The Dark 6/25, 7/25 Reactor 5/21/25 -7/26/25 Weird Horror Fall ’25 All of the original stories in issues 121 and 122 of The Dark are worthy of note. “The World Under” by Steve Rasnic Tem is the fir…

“No Mirrors Here” by @akatherineblack.bsky.social from The Dark, “The Name Ziya” by @wenyilee.bsky.social from @reactorsff.bsky.social, and more short fic recs from @paulaguran here -

i've heard a bit about this book and it's so so delightful 💕

Had the honor of reading an ARC of When They Burned the Butterfly by @wenyilee.bsky.social, a sapphic historical fantasy in 1970s Singapore. It's got it all: toxic yuri, a charismatic butch, and dangerous pacts with otherworldly entities. It releases 10/21 and I want everyone to read it!

ahh thank you for reading!! (you're the first person to call it toxic yuri😌)

sapphic fantasy fall (girl gangs & golems edition) ✨

on BUTTERFLY release week, come join @maddiesmartinez.bsky.social and I over on IG on 26 Oct to talk about our sapphic fantasy books and our joint publishing journeys!

the sapphic historical fantasy in post/colonial Asia conversation ✨️ I'll be having a virtual launch for WHEN THEY BURNED THE BUTTERFLY with Vaishnavi Patel on 21 Oct!!

link in bio to register :)

announcing the WHEN THEY BURNED THE BUTTERFLY preorder campaign!!

send me your preorder receipts now till Oct 21 (with an exclusive for certain Singapore bookstores) & get some pretty gifts ft. all southeast asian artists!

links in bio 🦋✨

less than 1 month till Butterfly is out and we have another excerpt for youuu

A jumble of pastel bugs, including an ant, praying mantis, and spider, overlayed on a smoky background. The spider is holding a piece of wood, and an orange ant is holding a sloshing cup.

In a newly integrated insect metropolis, generations clash around art, technology, and capitalism. Boris, a rural vesper, chases modernity to the city, but tradition is there first.

Next week. "Laurie on the Radio" by Sam Davis!!

Art by Michael Hirshon
Edited by @annvandermeer.bsky.social

thank you!! (and yes he's an icon)

Full article on the making of if @wenyilee.bsky.social 'When They Burned The Butterfly' cover on Reactor!

thank you, it was so fun to put together!

if you ever wanted to know how an author & publishing team design a book cover: enjoy!!!!!

(in which I talk about wong kar wai inspirations, we share BUTTERFLY cover sketches, and my artist @carissasusilo.bsky.social actually sets something on fire)

ahh thank you!!

. @torbooks.bsky.social has a free extended preview of my forthcoming sapphic fantasy BUTTERFLY up online!! ❤️✨️

us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

i've been chewing on this essay for a long time ~ deeply grateful to @ruadanbooks.bsky.social for giving it a home and to @mariahaskins.com for her careful editing 💚

ruadanbooks.com/missing-myth...