Ed Bok Lee, the son of North and South Korean emigrants, grew up in South Korea, North Dakota, and Minnesota, and was educated on both U.S. coasts as well as Russia, South Korea, and Kazakhstan. Lee is the author of Whorled, winner of a 2012 American Book Award and a Minnesota Book Award. His first collection, Real Karaoke People, won a 2006 PEN Open Book Award and an Asian American Literary Award (Members Choice). He teaches in Fine Arts at Metropolitan State University in Saint Paul and for two decades has taught in numerous programs for youth and the incarcerated. His most recent book of poetry is Mitochondrial Night.