Vroman’s Bookstore is set to host an insightful evening with author Lisa Lee, who will be in conversation with Muriel Leung to discuss and sign Lee’s highly anticipated debut novel, American Han. The event, scheduled for Thursday, April 16, 2026, at 7:00 p.m., promises a deep dive into a story that challenges conventional assumptions about the immigrant experience through its portrayal of striving, difficult love, and unwavering family bonds.
Lisa Lee, a recipient of the Marianne Russo Emerging Writer Award from the Key West Literary Seminar and an Emerging Writer Fellowship from the Center for Fiction, brings a unique perspective to her writing. Her work has also earned her a Pushcart Prize. Based in Chicago, where she balances her roles as an attorney, wife, and mother of two, Lee’s novel meticulously explores the complexities of the Korean American experience through the lens of the Kim family, offering readers a rich and resonant narrative.
Joining Lee in conversation is Muriel Leung, an accomplished American writer, poet, and educator. Leung, who holds a PhD in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Southern California and teaches at the California Institute of the Arts, is the author of several acclaimed poetry collections, including Imagine Us, The Swarm and the 2015 Noemi Press Book Award winner, Bone Confetti. She is also the Lambda award-winning author of How to Fall in Love in a Time of Unnameable Disaster, making her an ideal interlocutor for a discussion on contemporary literature and the immigrant narrative.
American Han has garnered significant praise from literary luminaries. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen describes it as “A pulsating signal from the liminal zone where the American dream meets the American nightmare.” Percival Everett, another Pulitzer Prize winner, notes, “A fantastic sleight-of-hand. Lee makes us look one way while all sorts of stuff comes into focus around us. This is a novel about a singular and eccentric family but yields understanding about so much more. A beautiful, important novel that will leave a mark.” Muriel Leung herself commented that the book “shook me to my core. Gutting in its quietest moments and heartbreakingly familiar in its loudest conflicts, this book is a gripping portrait of the cost of assimilation into American life.”
Need to Know: For more information and to support this event, visit Vroman’s Bookstore. The event, “Lisa Lee, in conversation with Muriel Leung, discusses & signs American Han,” is on Thursday, April 16, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. Admission is free, though purchasing the book is encouraged. It will be held at Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91101-2116.
