Li-Young Lee was born in 1957 in Jakarta, Indonesia, of Chinese parents. He and his family fled to the United States in 1964 from Indonesia, where his father was a political prisoner.
Mr. Lee has written two books of poetry, Rose and The City in Which I Love You, and a memoir, The Winged Seed.
Mr. Lee, whose writing is passionate, fearless, and haunting, has said, “Writing poetry is absolutely religious for me. I happen to believe that everything we do or say finally is a dialogue with the universe, or God.”
He received a Lannan Literary Award for Poetry in 1995. He lives with his family in Chicago.