Helen Elaine Lee is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. Her first novel,
The Serpent's Gift, was published by Atheneum and her second novel,
Water Marked, was published by Scribner. Her short story “Blood Knot” appeared in the spring 2017 issue of
Ploughshares and the story “Lesser Crimes” appeared in the Winter 2016 issue of
Callaloo. Helen was on the board of PEN New England for 10 years, and she served on its Freedom to Write Committee and volunteered with its Prison Creative Writing Program, which she helped to start. She wrote about the experience of leading creative writing workshops in prison in a
New York Times Book Review essay, “Visible Men”. Her stories about people who are incarcerated have appeared in
Prairie Schooner,
Callaloo,
Hanging Loose,
Best African American Fiction 2009 (Bantam Books), and
Solstice Literary Magazine. Her novel
Pomegranate was published in April 2023. It is about a woman who is getting out of prison and striving to stay clean, repair her relationships with her kids, and choose life. Her journey to grapple with the past, own and tell her story, and reassemble the pieces of her life is one of healing and autonomy. Her website is
helenelainelee.net.
