Writer

Welcome!

Tristan Hay Lee (she/her) is a Toronto-based writer of Korean, Japanese, and European descent. Her work spans multiple genres and forms, from short stories to young adult novels to preschool episodes and more!

Tristan’s writing has been published in Room, Ricepaper and The Selkie, as well as shortlisted for the HarperCollins/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction. In 2026, her short story “Margo Makes a YouTube Channel” won the national writing competition The Bridge Prize, awarding her the top prize of $5,000. A fourth-generation Japanese Canadian descendant whose family was interned and dispossessed during World War II, she is drawn to themes of identity and alienation, and often uses her writing to explore intergenerational wounds.

She earned an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia (2026), where she produced two young adult novels. She also holds a BFA in Creative Writing with a minor in English Literature from the University of British Columbia (2021). 

Tristan works as an in-house writer at a kids production company, and has also written over 20 episodes of children’s animated shows including Cocomelon, Caillou, and Marc Brown’s HOP.

On her days off, you can find her playing pickleball terribly or thrifting yet another leather jacket she doesn’t need.

She is represented by Julia Kim at The Rights Factory.