American Hagwon: A Conversation with Min Jin Lee

Min Jin Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea and immigrated to Queens, New York with her family when she was seven years old. She studied history at Yale College and law at Georgetown University. Lee practiced law for two years before turning to writing. She teaches fiction and essay writing at Amherst College and lives in New York City.

Lee is a writer whose award-winning fiction explores the intersection of race, ethnicity, immigration, class, religion, gender, and identity of a diasporic people. Lee’s debut novel Free Food for Millionaires (2007) was a Top 10 Books of the Year for The Times of London, NPR’s Fresh Air, USA Today, and a national bestseller. Pachinko, her second novel, is an epic story which follows a Korean family who migrates to Japan; it is the first novel written for an adult, English-speaking audience about the Korean-Japanese people. Pachinko was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction, runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, winner of the Medici Book Club Prize, a New York Times 10 Best Books of 2017, and is one of Kirkus Review‘s Best Books of the 21st Century (So Far). A New York Times Bestseller, Pachinko was also a Top 10 Books of the Year for the BBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and the New York Public Library. Pachinko was a selection for “Now Read This,” the joint book club of PBS NewsHour and The New York Times. It was on over 75 best books of the year lists, including NPR, PBS, and CNN. Pachinko has been translated into over 35 languages and is an international bestseller. President Barack Obama selected Pachinko for his recommended reading list, calling it, “a powerful story about resilience and compassion.” In 2024 Pachinko (#15) was named one of the New York Times Book Review’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. Her next book will be American Hagwon (Cardinal/HBG, September 29, 2026) the third book in “The Koreans” series. Kirkus called it “a gift to her readers” in their star review. She is currently working on her next novel, Marshall Plan.

Her writings have appeared in The New Yorker, NPR’s Selected Shorts, One Story, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, The Times Literary Supplement, The Guardian, Condé Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, The Times of London, Food & Wine, Vogue and The Wall Street Journal. She served as a columnist for the Chosun Ilbo, the leading newspaper of South Korea. She also edited The Best American Short Stories 2023.

Lee was named as an Adweek Creative 100 for being one of the “10 Writers and Editors Who are Changing the National Conversation” and a Frederick Douglass 200.

Min Jin Lee is a Writer-in-Residence at Amherst College. She is a recipient of fiction fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study at Harvard, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Monmouth College, was inducted in the New York Foundation for the Arts Hall of Fame, the New York State Writers Hall of Fame, and in 2025 she was named the New York State Author. She has also been awarded South Korea’s Manhae Grand Prize for Literature, the Bucheon Diaspora Literary Award, the Samsung Happiness for Tomorrow Award for Creativity, and the 2024 Fitzgerald Prize for Literary Excellence. Recently, Lee was the subject of Pachinko and Min Jin Lee, a documentary produced by KBS a public broadcasting service in South Korea. She also serves as a trustee of PEN America and as a director of the Authors Guild. Lee is currently at work on Name Recognition: A Memoir of Visibility and Voice.

MODERATOR: KYUNG B. YOON

Kyung B. Yoon is the President and CEO (as well as co-founder) of the Korean American Community Foundation (KACF). Under her visionary leadership, KACF has grown into the leading force mobilizing Korean Americans to drive positive change in their communities through philanthropy. Notably, the Foundation received a prestigious $5 million Mackenzie Scott grant in 2024 to accelerate the next chapter of its growth as a national foundation.

Kyung’s career in poverty alleviation, development economics, and media encompasses her roles as the Executive Producer of Television at the World Bank Institute and a correspondent for WNYW-Fox Channel 5 where she made history as the first Korean American broadcast reporter in NYC. She is currently a contributing reporter to CUNY-TV’s Asian American Life, which is broadcast nationally on PBS stations and for which she received two Emmy nominations.

Kyung was one of the first appointments to the inaugural New York State AAPI Commission formed in 2024 by Governor Kathy Hochul. She has also previously served as the board chair of Philanthropy New York and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, as a trustee of the New York Foundation, and as a board member of the United Way of New York City.

In 2023, Kyung was awarded the Moran Medal of the Order of Civil Merit by the Republic of Korea for her pioneering work to lift up the Korean immigrant community and her trailblazing leadership in building a vibrant culture of giving among Korean Americans.

Kyung holds a BA in English and political science from Wellesley College and an MA in development economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.