Min Jin Lee — American Hagwon - with Clint Smith
Min Jin Lee presents *American Hagwon*, a sweeping contemporary novel about education, ambition, family, sacrifice, and displacement. The story follows John and Helen Koh and their three children, whose formerly comfortable life in Korea is disrupted by betrayal and the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The family moves first to Sydney and then to Southern California, where the parents struggle to rebuild their lives while holding fast to the belief that education will secure a better future for their children.
The novel traces the Koh family, their friends, relatives, and adversaries across decades and continents, examining the pressures of migration, class, memory, loyalty, and familial duty. Lee will discuss the book with writer Clint Smith.
When: Tuesday, September 29, 2026
Showtime: 7:00 p.m.
Venue: RLS Meeting Room at Sidwell, 3825 Wisconsin Avenue, Washington, DC 20016
Format: In conversation, with Min Jin Lee joined by Clint Smith
Tickets: Sold out; price not available
Book signing: All books will be pre-signed by Min Jin Lee.
Co-sponsors: The Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Asian American Journalists Association DC, and the Yale Club of Washington DC
Min Jin Lee: Lee is the author of *Free Food for Millionaires* and *Pachinko*, which was a National Book Award finalist, runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and selected by *The New York Times* as one of its 100 best books of the century. She is New York State Author Laureate for 2025–2027 and received the 2024 Fitzgerald Prize for Literary Excellence. Her other honors include the Manhae Grand Prize for Literature, the Bucheon Diaspora Literary Award, and South Korea’s Samsung Happiness for Tomorrow Award for Creativity. She has held fiction fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Lee is an inductee of the New York Foundation for the Arts Hall of Fame and the New York State Writers Hall of Fame, and lives in Harlem with her family.
Clint Smith: Smith is the author of the forthcoming nonfiction book *Just Beneath the Soil*, scheduled for publication by Knopf in May 2027. His previous books include the bestselling *How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America*, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, its young readers’ adaptation written with Sonja Cherry-Paul, and the poetry collections *Above Ground* and *Counting Descent*. He is a staff writer at *The Atlantic*.
Event book: *American Hagwon* by Min Jin Lee is a hardcover edition priced at $36.00 and available for preorder. It is scheduled for publication on September 29, 2026, with ISBN 9781538752036.
Run time: Not specified
Age guidance: Not specified
Accessibility: Not specified