Stephan Lee author page

Stephan Lee biography

Stephan Lee is an American author and editor whose fiction includes young adult and middle-grade novels. He graduated from Duke University and earned an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School. Before publishing fiction, he worked as a staff writer and editor at Entertainment Weekly and Bustle, covering books, film and popular culture. He later moved into editorial work at Netflix.

Lee made his YA debut with K-Pop Confidential, published by Scholastic’s Point imprint in 2020. The novel follows Korean American teenager Candace Park after she passes an audition and travels to Seoul to train with a K-pop entertainment company. Lee drew on his experience reporting on Korean entertainment for Entertainment Weekly, including a research trip to Seoul. The story continued in K-Pop Revolution, published by Point in 2022.

Lee moved into middle-grade fiction with Donutella Hamachi and the Library Avengers, co-written with artist and television personality Kim Chi and illustrated by Utomaru. Published by Candlewick Press in 2025, it follows twelve-year-old Jae Han and his friends as they try to save their local library, while Jae’s comic-book superhero Donutella Hamachi appears in illustrated sequences. A second book, Donutella Hamachi and the Drama Queens, is scheduled for publication in 2027.

His standalone YA romantic comedy Like We Were in Paris was published by Scholastic in May 2026. Set in Paris, the novel centres on two teenage boys whose unexpected meeting develops over the course of a single night.