Poet and playwright Ed Bok Lee was raised in South Korea, North Dakota, and Minnesota, and he earned an MFA from Brown University. He is the author of Whorled (2011) winner of an American Book Award and a Minnesota Book Award for Poetry; and Real Karaoke People (2005), winner of a 2006 PEN/Open Book Award, and an Asian American Literary Award (Members' Choice). He has shared his work on public radio and MTV, as well as in journals, anthologies, and on stages across North America, Europe, and Asia.

Lee has received grants from from the McKnight Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board, Loft Literary Center, and National Endowment for the Arts. His plays have been seen at major regional and national theaters including the Guthrie Theater, New York Theater Workshop, Joseph Papp Public Theater, Theater Mu, Taipei Theater, Trinity Repertory Company, and the Walker Art Center.

He has worked as a journalist, physical education instructor, bartender, and translator, and is currently an associate professor at Metropolitan State University in Minnesota.