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Lee Martin

(b.1955)

Lee Martin is the author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Bright Forever. He was born in Illinois, and received his MFA from the University of Arkansas. He has published widely acclaimed stories, novels, and memoirs (From Our House is recommended). He has won numerous awards including the Mary McCarthy Prize, the Nancy Dasher Award, the Glenna Luschei Prize for Literary Distinction, the Lawrence Foundation Award, and fellowships from the NEA and the Ohio Arts Council. Currently he is Professor at Ohio State University where he is Director of Creative Writing. He lives in Columbus, Ohio.

Genres: Literary Fiction, Historical

New and upcoming books

March 2025

The Evening Shades

Novels

   Quakertown (2001)
   The Bright Forever (2005)
   River of Heaven (2008)
   Break the Skin (2011)
   Late One Night (2016)
   Yours, Jean (2020)
   The Glassmaker's Wife (2022)
   The Evening Shades (2025)

Collections

The Least You Need to Know (1996)
The Mutual UFO Network (2018)

Non fiction show

Award nominations

2006 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (nominee) : The Bright Forever

Lee Martin recommends

To Save the Man (2025)
John Sayles
"Set in 1890, the year of the Wounded Knee Massacre, John Sayles's novel, To Save the Man, is a story of a culture taken. At the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, young Native Americans find themselves having to negotiate the demands of assimilation against the ways of life they've always known. A master storyteller, Sayles reminds us of the cost of history on the individual life. This blend of fact and invention makes for an unforgettable read."

A Very Inconvenient Scandal (2023)
Jacquelyn Mitchard
"A Very Inconvenient Scandal is an intricate story of love found in the entirely unexpected places. Jacquelyn Mitchard's expert hand guides us through the twists and turns of a family drama that resonates with wit, warmth, and mystery. Is there a keener observer of human nature? I doubt it. Few writers can match Jacquelyn Mitchard when it comes to portraying the complicated layers of the ordinary heart. Love Among the Sea Monsters had me laughing out loud while also feeling the ache of the fragile desire to be loved."

Bessie (2023)
Linda Kass
"Bessie makes the first Jewish woman to win the Miss America title, Bess Myerson, come alive in a way her celebrity status never fully allowed. Linda Kass builds the character of Bessie through the complicated layers of all Bess Myerson carried with her - her dreams of being a composer, her longing to be loved by her joyless and demanding mother, the pain she felt over racial inequality, and everything she had to tolerate in order to find the platform for her voice, a voice she was determined to use to make a difference in the world. The true beauty of this novel is Linda Kass's artistry. She's created a loving and honest portrait of a woman who meant so much to so many."

Sidle Creek (2023)
Jolene McIlwain
"Welcome to the Pennsylvania of Jolene Mcllwain, a world of strip mines, cockfights, deer hunters, Rolling Rock beer, and a cast of characters as memorable as any from Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio. Mcllwain's debut story collection, Sidle Creek, shimmers with the plain-spoken, and yet luminous, portrayals of its rural characters whose lives are made up of moments of grit and grace. How does she do it? How does she turn the ordinary into something magical, universal, and eternal? These are stories to savor for all they have to tell us about being alive."

I Will Leave You Never (2023)
Ann Putnam
"Ann Putnam's glorious I Will Leave You Never is a story of threat and survival and the ties of love that bind us to one another. This novel resonates with the fragile and yet persistent threads of our living, threads that will vibrate inside you for a long time to come."

The End of the Road (2023)
Andrew Welsh-Huggins
"A gripping novel that will latch onto you and refuse to let go all the way to its explosive end. The End of the Road sizzles with the sparks of its looming conflagration."

Call It Horses (2021)
Jessie van Eerden
"A novel of grit and grace. Jessie van Eerden, in language both lean and lush, tells this story of women on the run-women who discover that in leaving they find exactly where they’re meant to be. The final scene is one I’ll remember always."

The Monsters We Make (2020)
Kali White
"Kali White has spun a tale of unbearable suspense in prose...I truly did read this remarkable new novel in one sitting."

Betty (2020)
Tiffany McDaniel
"Tiffany McDaniel gives voice to those on the fringes. Betty is a coming-of-age novel that has the courage to look into the darkness and to find the light. Betty Carpenter tells the story of her family with empathy and passion and heart. This is a book for anyone who's ever stood on the outside looking in, or for anyone who's ever scorned the unfortunate. It's a book for our uncertain times, one that has much to show us about family, about want, about love."

How Quickly She Disappears (2020)
Raymond Fleischmann
"Raymond Fleischmann has crafted a novel of the highest suspense...you'll mourn how quickly the pages go by."

The Widows (2019)
(Kinship, book 1)
Jess Montgomery
"Two women, a murdered husband, and the secret life he lived...Montgomery is a masterful storyteller."

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