Named a Best Book of 2018 by New York Magazine, the Washington Post, Publisher’s Weekly, NPR, and Time, among many others, this essay collection from the author of The Queen of the Night explores how we form identities in life and in art.**As a novelist, Alexander Chee has been described as “masterful” by Roxane Gay, “incendiary” by the New York Times, and "brilliant" by the Washington Post. With his first coll...

From a writer praised by Junot Díaz as “the fire, in my opinion, and the light,” comes a mesmerizing novel that follows one woman’s rise from circus rider to courtesan to world-renowned diva.Lilliet Berne is a sensation of the Paris Opera, a legendary soprano with every accolade except an original role, every singer’s chance at immortality. When one is finally offered to her, she realizes with alarm that the libretto is based on a hidden piece of her past. Only four could have betr...

A collection of the year’s best essays, selected by award-winning writer Alexander Chee.Alexander Chee, an essayist of “virtuosity and power” (Washington Post), selects twenty essays out of thousands that represent the best examples of the form published the previous year.

***LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FINALIST***A compelling memoir of social life in the queer underground of San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles at a time when the manic frivolity of gay rights and bohemian creativity collided with the deadly reality of plague.DISASTERAMA: Adventures in the Queer Underground 1977 to 1997, is the true story of Alvin Orloff who, as a shy kid from the suburbs of San Francisco, stumbled into...

**One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years“A wonderfully resplendent evocation of a newcomer’s America” (Chang-rae Lee, author of Native Speaker) by the father of Korean American literatureA Penguin Classic**Having fled Japanese-occupied Korea for the gleaming promise of the United States with nothing but four dollars and a suitcase full of Shakespeare to his name, the young, idealistic Chungpa Han arrives in a New York tee...

'Every word makes me ache ... Written with exquisite empathy and grace' Roxane Gay**'**Singularly beautiful and psychologically harrowing ... One of the best American novels of this century' Boston GlobeTwelve-year-old Fee is a shy Korean American boy and a newly named section leader of the first sopranos in his local boys' choir. At their summer camp, situated in an idyllic and secluded lakeside retreat, Fee grapples with his comp...

From the best-selling author of How To Write an Autobiographical Novel, Alexander Chee's award-winning debut is "One of the great queer novels . . . of our time."—Brandon Taylor, GQTwelve-year-old Fee is a shy Korean-American boy growing up in Maine whose powerful soprano voice wins him a place as section leader of the first sopranos in his local boys choir. But when, on a retreat, Fee discovers how the director treats the boys he makes section lea...

Twelve-year-old Fee is a shy Korean American boy and a newly named section leader of the first sopranos in his local boys’ choir. But when Fee learns how the director treats his section leaders, he is so ashamed he says nothing of the abuse, not even when Peter, his best friend, is in line to be next. When the director is arrested, Fee tries to forgive himself for his silence. But when Peter takes his own life, Fee blames only himself. In the years that follow he slowly builds a new life, ...

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee, read by Rachel Bavidge.From a writer praised by Junot Díaz as 'the fire, in my opinion, and the light', a mesmerizing novel that follows one woman's rise from circus rider to courtesan to world-renowned starLilliet Berne is a sensation of the Paris Opera, a legendary soprano with every accolade except an original role. When one is finally offered to...

The 20th anniversary edition of a groundbreaking Asian-American queer classic by celebrated author Justin ChinFloating somewhere between fiction and memoir, Burden of Ashes is a beautiful and brutal series of short stories in which childhood, homeland, and lovers both real and imagined succumb to whimsy, revision, denial, and truthful embellishment. Within these pages, Chin artfully creates a personal world where snake killings, demonic possession, the eni...

Winner of the inaugural 2024 Sarabande Prize in the Essay, selected by Alexander CheeA humorous and endearing debut about migration, queerness and the transnational experience for readers of Ocean Vuong’s The Emperor of GladnessLucky Creatures is a bold and playful essay collection exploring identity, displacement, and the complexities of immigrant life. Through the author’s experience as a Filipino immigrant in New Zealan...

"A masterwork of enormous power." —Min Jin Lee, author of PachinkoThe searing debut of "one of the most influential writers in American letters… Hunger is a masterpiece, a necessary haunting" (Justin Torres, author of We the Animals).A powerful exploration of the Asian American experience, Hunger weaves the forces of war and magic, food and desire, ghosts and family into poignant tales of love and loss. Celebrated author L...