Tristan Hay Lee
The School of Creative Writing is pleased to congratulate Tristan Hay Lee, MFA. Tristan’s thesis is a young adult contemporary rom-com novel entitled Drama Kids.
Tristan is a Toronto-born writer of Korean, Japanese, and European descent. Her work has been published in Room, Ricepaper and The Selkie, as well as shortlisted for the Bridge Prize. Her previous young adult manuscript, which explores the enduring impact of the Japanese Canadian internment, was shortlisted for the 2022 HarperCollins/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction. Tristan has written over 20 episodes for several children’s animated shows, including Caillou, Cocomelon, and Marc Brown’s HOP. On her days off, you can find her playing pickleball terribly or thrifting yet another leather jacket she doesn’t need. Her website is tristanhaylee.com.
Tristan’s YA contemporary rom-com novel Drama Kids follows seventeen-year-old Mars Park, whose aspirations to be a serious stage director conflict with her growing crush on the lead actor Dominic, a laid-back jock who’s never acted in his life. Unbeknownst to her, Dominic is grappling with his mother’s cancer diagnosis, which threatens to jeopardize their end-of-year performance—along with the future Mars has worked so hard to secure. An adolescent ode to the messiness and joy of high school theatre, Drama Kids explores themes of creative collaboration, familial duty, and the myriad forms of pressure we encounter in our teens.
Contact
Request more information about Tristan’s thesis project using our 2026 Graduate Showcase Contact Form.