C. B. Lee is a Chinese-Vietnamese-American author based out of Los Angeles, California.[1] They are the author of young adult fiction, best known for their Sidekick Squad series, which follows a quartet of teenagers in a near future world of superheroes and supervillains.
C. B. Lee | |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Nationality | American |
| Genre | young adult fiction |
| Years active | 2015-now |
| Notable works | Not Your Sidekick, Seven Years at High Tide |
| Notable awards | Rainbow Award 2015 |
| Website | |
| cb-lee | |
Profile edit
Lee's parents are immigrants from Vietnam and China.[2] Lee is openly bisexual[3] and also open about their struggles with mental illness.[4] They have been featured in Teen Vogue, Hypable, and Wired Magazine for their novels.[5] Lee is represented by Thao Le of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency.[5]
Selected works edit
Their debut young adult novel, Seven Tears at High Tide, about a boy who gets rescued and falls for a selkie, was published by Duet Books in 2015. It won the 2016 Rainbow Award for Bisexual Fantasy & Fantasy Romance in 2016[6] and was a finalist for the 2016 Bisexual Book Award in the category Young Adult and Speculative Fiction.[7]
The first book in the Sidekick Squad series, Not Your Sidekick, was published by Duet Books in 2016.[8] It tells the story of Jess, a bisexual teen without superpowers living in a world where superpowers are normal, who has to compete with her town's infamous supervillain for her dream internship and deal with her crush on her friend Abby.[9][10] Not Your Sidekick was a finalist for the 2017 Lambda Literary Award in the category LGBTQ Children's/Young Adult[11] and a finalist for the 2017 Bisexual Book Award in Speculative Fiction.[7] The second book, Not Your Villain, following the protagonists from the first novel who have now joined a resistance movement, was published by Duet Books in 2017.[12] A third book, Not Your Backup, was published in 2019. Lee cites the X-Men and wanting to write a story incorporating identity and alienation as inspiration for writing the series.[13]
Lee also contributed a short story to Saundra Mitchell's Out Now: Queer We Go Again!, published by Inkyard Press in 2020.[14]
Selected bibliography edit
Young Adult series edit
Sidekick Squad edit
- Not Your Sidekick (Duet Books, 2016)
- Not Your Villain (Duet Books, 2017)
- Not Your Backup (Duet Books, 2019)
- Not Your Hero (2022, not released yet)
Stand-alone young adult novels edit
- Seven Tears at High Tide (Duet Books, 2015)
- A Clash of Steel: A Treasure Island Remix (Macmillan, 2021)
Awards edit
Won edit
- Rainbow Award for Bisexual Fantasy & Fantasy Romance for Seven Tears at High Tide (Duet Books, 2015)[6]
Nominated edit
- Bisexual Book Award in Young Adult and Speculative Fiction for Seven Tears at High Tide (Duet Books, 2015)[7]
- Lambda Literary Award in the category LGBTQ Children's/Young Adult for Not Your Sidekick (Duet Books, 2016)[11]
- Bisexual Book Award Finalist in Speculative Fiction for Not Your Sidekick (Duet Books, 2016)[7]
- Lambda Literary Award in the category LGBTQ Children's/Young Adult for Not Your Sidekick (Duet Books, 2017)[15]
References edit
- ^ "C.B. Lee". www.amazon.com. Retrieved 2020-04-30.
- ^ "11 Authors Discuss Dealing with Depression, Being Mixed Race, and More on September's YA Open Mic". The B&N Teen Blog. 2016-09-01. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
- ^ "Interview: C.B. Lee & Rachel Davidson Leigh – YA Pride". www.gayya.org. 23 September 2016. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
- ^ "Redefining Super". Diversity in YA. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
- ^ a b "About the Author". CB Lee. 2015-11-19. Retrieved 2020-04-30.
- ^ a b "2016 Rainbow Awards". www.elisarolle.com. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
- ^ a b c d "The Bi Writers Association - Finalists & Winners". www.biwriters.org. Archived from the original on 2018-04-30. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
- ^ "Children's Book Review: Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee. Duet, $16.99 trade paper (262p) ISBN 978-1-945053-03-0". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
- ^ "What's New in LGBTQIA+ YA September and October 2016". School Library Journal. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
- ^ "Kick off Bisexual Awareness Week with 12 2016 YA Books". The B&N Teen Blog. 2016-09-19. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
- ^ a b Team, Edit (2017-03-14). "29th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
- ^ Tesoro, Christina (2017-11-16). "'Not Your Villain' by C.B. Lee". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
- ^ "The Best Superheroes Right Now Aren't on Screens. They're in Books". WIRED. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
- ^ "Rights Report: Week of September 24, 2018". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
- ^ Johns, Wayne, ed. (2019-03-11), "Where Your Children Are", Every True Pleasure, University of North Carolina Press, pp. 181–191, doi:10.5149/northcarolina/9781469646800.003.0020, ISBN 978-1-4696-4680-0, S2CID 242533467