Krys Lee (by Mat Douma)

She’s all out of bubblegum!

And if you don’t get that reference and live in the United States you should immediately surrender your citizenship and move to some place worse… like, any place Putin might be in charge.^^

Krys Lee is the author of the amazing and often amazingly dark Drifting House, which KTLit reviewed here with rather unabashed admiration. She also, on rare occasions in Seoul, serves as one of the rotating moderators of the 10 Magazine Book Club. When bored, she translates, and no doubt rows the entire distance of the Four Rivers Project.

KTLit mentions Lee in this case, however, as Lee has been awarded a prestigious Rome Fellowships in Literature which grants her a one-year residency (2014–2015) at the American Academy in Rome.

The Academy places itself somewhere between terse and truncated in its explanation of what it offers:

Every year the Academy selects and partially subsidizes two young writers of promise for a year’s residence at the American Academy in Rome.

And, while all the other awardees (the awards are various) are grand, I’m just going to mention one name that I think puts Krys’ achievement in awesome perspective – Sherman Alexie!!!!

Alexie also won one of these awards.

I won’t belabor comparisons and contrasts here, because between Lee and Alexie (who won the Katherine Anne Porter Award)  there is a wide swath of comparisons and contrasts (that might just not have made sense?).  But they both share sharp and sometimes painfully realistic writing skills (though Alexie is more likely to toss in some rather amusing jokes), that bring attention to people who are often marginalized, by history, current geography, and politics. That’s what we here in the PR business know as a “skill set” (a concept we honor nearly as much as “plausible deniability” and “the three martini lunch.”).

And.. I’m told by those “traditional literary” people that I shouldn’t just use comparisons that I like.^^ So I will also add from a contributor:

More cool Rome Prize facts: many Pulitzer guys won it, including Junot Diaz and the guy who wrote Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love. Plus many of the guys in the Norton Anthology of Modern 20th Century Literature (latter 20th century part)! And our own Chang-rae Lee, Salvador Diaz, Stravinsky

I will leave aside the horrible sexism (“guys”, really^^) of this friend of the blog and concentrate on what should be concentrated on –  congratulations to Krys.

But Krys Lee IS John Nada?

Who the heck knew?^^

Someone needs to draw me a piece of art.^^

Also, I’m scared!