Jessica J. Lee
{{short description|Canadian author}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jessica J. Lee
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| nationality = British and Canadian
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| occupation = writer
| website = https://www.jessicajleewrites.com/
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Jessica J. Lee is a British and Canadian author{{Cite web|date=2020-08-05|title=Jessica J. Lee|url=https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/authors/jessica-j-lee|access-date=2020-08-06|website=Sierra Club|language=en}} and environmental historian.
Biography
Lee was born in Canada to a Welsh father and a Taiwanese mother. She was brought up in Canada and lived in London and Berlin.{{Cite web|last=Rath|first=Anna von|title=Turning: A Swimming Memoir|url=https://pocolit.com/en/?page&year=2020&monthnum=06&day=03&name=turning-by-jessica-j-lee|access-date=2020-08-06|website=poco.lit.|language=en-US}}
She received her BA from University of King's College in Halifax and her MA from University of London. She then received her PhD in Environmental History and Aesthetics from York University.
In 2018, Lee founded the non-fiction journal The Willowherb Review. Receiving funds from fewer than a hundred backers on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, Lee and company paid writers and artists to produce five issues, with the project formally ending in 2022. The journal had also been funded by a grant provided by Arts Council England.
Reviewers noted that her 2019 memoir Two Trees Make a Forest incorporates elements of environmental analysis to her account of exploring Taiwan, where her mother was born. The book won the 2020 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction.Craig Takeuchi, [https://nowtoronto.com/culture/books/gil-adamson-jessica-j-lee-win-writers-trust-2020-literary-prizes "Gil Adamson, Jessica J. Lee win Writers’ Trust literary prizes"]. Now, November 19, 2020.
Awards
Lee won the 2019 RBC Taylor Prize for emerging authors. The prize came with $10,000 cash, and the mentorship of Kate Harris.
Publications
- {{cite book
| url =
| title = Turning: A Swimming Memoir
| author = Jessica J. Lee
| year = 2017
| publisher = Little, Brown Book Group
| isbn = 9780349008349
| quote =
}}
- {{cite book
| url =
| title = Two Trees Make a Forest: Travels Among Taiwan's Mountains & Coasts in Search of My Family's Past
| publisher = Penguin Canada
| author = Jessica J. Lee
| year = 2020
| isbn = 9780735239586
| quote =
}}
- {{cite book
| url =
| title = Dispersals: On Plants, Borders, and Belonging
| publisher = Penguin Canada
| author = Jessica J. Lee
| year = 2024
| isbn = 9781646221783
| quote =
}}
References
{{Reflist|refs=
{{cite news
| url = https://www.cbc.ca/books/jessica-j-lee-wins-10k-rbc-taylor-prize-emerging-writer-award-1.5099824
| title = Jessica J. Lee wins $10K RBC Taylor Prize Emerging Writer Award
| work = CBC Books
| author = Jane van Koeverden
| date = 2019-04-16
| archiveurl =
| archivedate =
| accessdate = 2020-07-25
| quote = Jessica J. Lee, author of the memoir Turning, has been awarded the 2019 RBC Taylor Prize Emerging Writer Award, a prize that comes with $10,000 and mentorship from RBC Taylor Prize winner Kate Harris.
}}
{{cite news
| url = https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/01/best-books-2019-picked-by-years-best-writers
| title = The best books of 2019 – picked by the year's best writers
| work = The Guardian
| date = 2019-12-01
| archiveurl =
| archivedate =
| accessdate = 2020-07-24
| quote = Lee is editor of the Willowherb Review, publishing nature writing by writers of colour, including Nina Mingya Powles, winner of the inaugural Nan Shepherd prize.
}}
{{cite news
| url = https://www.thewillowherbreview.com/editors-note-jessica-j-lee
| title = Editor's note
| work = The Willowherb Review
| author = Jessica J. Lee
| date = July 2019
| archiveurl =
| archivedate =
| accessdate = 2020-07-24
| quote =
}}
{{cite news
| url = http://www.davidgodwinassociates.com/blog/2019/4/17/jessica-j-lee-awarded-rbc-taylor-prize
| title = Jessica J. Lee awarded RBC Taylor Prize
| work = David Godwin Associates
| date = 2019-04-17
| archiveurl =
| archivedate =
| accessdate = 2020-07-24
| quote = RBC Taylor Prize Founder Noreen Taylor commented: "Jessica J. Lee is exactly the kind of writer we envision for the Emerging Author award. A multi-talented young person, Lee is about to break out on several fronts.
}}
{{cite news
| url = https://www.cbc.ca/books/12-canadian-books-coming-out-in-july-we-can-t-wait-to-read-1.5639337
| title = 12 Canadian books coming out in July we can't wait to read
| work = CBC Books
| date = 2020-07-07
| archiveurl =
| archivedate =
| accessdate = 2020-07-24
| quote = A chance discovery of letters written by her immigrant grandfather leads Jessica J. Lee to her ancestral homeland, Taiwan.
}}
{{cite news
| url = https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-language-of-self-discovery-on-jessica-j-lees-two-trees-make-a-forest/
| title = The Language of Self-Discovery: On Jessica J. Lee's "Two Trees Make a Forest"
| work = Los Angeles Review of Books
| author = Kristen Schott
| date = 2020-04-24
| archiveurl =
| archivedate =
| accessdate = 2020-07-24
| quote = JESSICA J. LEE ASKS the reader to consider slippery definitions of family in her complicated but thoughtful memoir, Two Trees Make a Forest: In Search of My Family's Past Among Taiwan's Mountains and Coasts, which weaves the political character of Taiwan with her family's own heritage and her journey of self-discovery amid the rural landscapes of the island.
}}
{{cite news
| url = https://geographical.co.uk/reviews/books/item/3612-two-trees-make-a-forest-on-memory-migration-and-taiwan-by-jessica-j-lee-book-review
| title = TWO TREES MAKE A FOREST: On Memory, Migration and Taiwan by Jessica J Lee book review
| work = Geographical magazine
| author = Katie Burton
| date = 2020-03-06
| archiveurl =
| archivedate =
| accessdate = 2020-07-24
| quote = Intermingled family, geographical and political history make this a fascinating and gentle read. It is both an introduction to Taiwan, its people and its topography, and a highly personal, and honest, account of one family.
}}
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{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Jessica J.}}
Category:Place of birth missing (living people)
Category:21st-century Canadian memoirists
Category:21st-century Canadian women writers
Category:University of King's College alumni
Category:Alumni of the University of London
Category:Boardman Tasker Prize winners
Category:British Asian writers
Category:British nature writers
Category:British people of Taiwanese descent
Category:British women travel writers
Category:Canadian people of Taiwanese descent
Category:Canadian people of Welsh descent
Category:Canadian travel writers
Category:Canadian women memoirists