wen-yi lee

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...

thank you for reading and writing about her!!!

christina called my main character a bitch and i said yes correct thank you 🫶🏼

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.

New from this post is perhaps my favorite novelette of the year to date, “The Name Ziya” by @wenyilee.bsky.social, a story of academia and colonialism that’s gripping from the start and remarkably emotionally complicated for the lead reactormag.com/the-name-ziy...

thank you so much!!

wait that's so cool thank you!!

ALL THE LOVE TO YOU AT LAST

my favourite short story i've ever written is out now on reactor 💖 it's fantasy dark academia about access to colonial institutions, assimilation, complicity, cultural names & identity (with a sapphic mc!)

I honestly forgot I had this account. Reading an ARC of @wenyilee.bsky.social’s adult sapphic Southeast Asian fantasy that’s filled with fire and longing. And butterflies.

#felireads #booksky #reading #books

Pst, hey contributors!

@sentencebender.bsky.social @dynamicsymmetry.bsky.social @ayshaufarah.bsky.social @margaret.bsky.social @mayadeane.bsky.social @domsdickey.bsky.social @wenyilee.bsky.social @bendibarrett.bsky.social @itsneonyang.bsky.social @katharineduckett.bsky.social & more!!

dark academia fantasy short story out june 18th!!

i am currently reading this + loving absolutely every story! a few highlights so far: "They Will Give Us a Home" by @wenyilee.bsky.social (begging for an arc of their adult debut tbh) + "When the Devil Comes from Babylon" @mayadeane.bsky.social

@erewhonbooks.bsky.social @leemandelo.bsky.social

thank you for reading 💕 and hope you get the arc!!

Advanced Bound Manuscript of When They Burned the Butterfly by Wen-Yi Lee. There is no cover. It's just white with the Tor Publishing Group logo of a mountain on it.

Got an Uncorrected Bound Manuscript from Tor Books!

When They Burned the Butterfly, by Wen-Yi Lee!

@wenyilee.bsky.social 💖

🥰🥰🥰🦋

Red, Scuttle When the Ships Come Down - Uncanny Magazine Content note: Ableism and racism   The British plucked us from our prisons and sailed us here, this jungle island in the Nanyang with their treasure striated into the bedrock. More precious than gold,...

Really enjoyed "Red, Scuttle When the Ships Come Down" by @wenyilee.bsky.social over at @uncannymagazine.bsky.social. Really well written, well told story that unfolds perfectly.

www.uncannymagazine.com/article/red-...

thanks so much for reading!!

ARCs for When They Burned the Butterfly, my sapphic girl gang fantasy set in 1970s singapore, are up on both edelweiss & netgalley!!!!

mine and now everyone else's 🥹

If you're in Bath and would like to pick up WORK-LIFE BALANCE, you can do so at Topping & Company! www.toppingbooks.co.uk/books/work-l...