Chang-rae Lee — A Tender Age - with Kat Chow — at Conn Ave

Chang-rae Lee and Kat Chow will appear at Politics and Prose on Connecticut Avenue on Thursday, August 13, 2026, for an evening centered on Lee’s new novel, *A Tender Age*. The program pairs the Pulitzer Prize finalist with writer, reporter, and memoirist Kat Chow for an onstage conversation. Admission is free, and seating is offered on a first come, first served basis.

*A Tender Age* follows Jeon-Gi, an eleven-year-old Korean-American boy on the cusp of adolescence, torn between the protective, working-class world of his immigrant parents and the unruly freedom of a roaming neighborhood gang. Set during the summer he turns eleven, the novel charts his entanglement in a startling series of events with consequences far beyond his family. The book is framed as a bildungsroman in the tradition of Huckleberry Finn and Holden Caulfield, and it examines American masculinity, family dynamics, guilt, innocence, and the moment a child first glimpses adult knowledge and culpability. The novel has been named a *New York Times* Most Anticipated Book of 2026.

Chang-rae Lee is the author of six previous novels, including *Native Speaker*, winner of the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for first fiction, and *The Surrendered*, winner of the Dayton Peace Prize and a Pulitzer Prize finalist. He is also the recipient of the 2021 Award of Merit for the Novel from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and teaches writing at Stanford University. Kat Chow is the author of *Seeing Ghosts: A Memoir*, a former NPR reporter and founding member of the Code Switch team, and a contributor to outlets including *The New York Times Magazine*, *The Atlantic*, *The Paris Review*, and New York Magazine’s The Cut. She is the 2024-25 Jenny McKean Moore Writer-in-Washington at George Washington University.

When: Thursday, August 13, 2026, at 7:00 PM ET.

Venue: Politics and Prose at 5015 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008.

Tickets: Free with first come, first served seating.

Lineup: Chang-rae Lee in conversation with Kat Chow.

Book: *A Tender Age: A Novel* by Chang-rae Lee, available for preorder as a $30.00 hardcover, ISBN 9798217048441; the book publishes on August 11, 2026.

Accessibility: To request accommodations or ask about accessibility, email events@politics-prose.com, ideally one week before the event date; requests will be accommodated up until the time of the event when possible.

Run time and ages: Not specified in the event listing.