It's time to finally talk about my favourite books of 2025, so I made a list, without any kind of order, that pretty much covers it. It may be great to fill your TBR! You can check it here: jamreads.com/articles/my-... 💙📚

"The girls' journey parallels that of their city in beautiful, bloody, haunting ways... this unity between self, place and history... seared When They Burned the Butterfly into my mind and made it my favorite book of 2025." to be read & seen; thank you @grimdarkmagazine.bsky.social ❤️

my novelette The Name Ziya: "jaw-droppingly sharp passages on cultural appropriation, and yet the tale somehow maintains the uncomfortable balance between the lead hating a society that takes so much and yet loving the life it gives her" ❤️ and such amazing recs on the rest of the list!

it's roundup season ✨️ thank you @cxorlando.bsky.social for pubbing my cannibalism essay, included on this list! reactormag.com/tender-is-th...

this fantasy dark academia story is one of my favourites i've ever written and you can read it here with a lot of other writers i love!!

everything everywhere all at once because i went in blind & on a whim with my cousin after cocktails and by the end of it we were both just stricken & sobbing

I'm seeing people posting their 2025 award eligibility, so here's mine. Please consider if any story touches your heart. Thank you! 🙏🏼

Our first release of 2025 will be @kerstinhall.bsky.social 's ASUNDER! 🏆 A Finalist for the Nebula & Locus Awards, 🖤 A Reactor Reviewer's Choice Best Book of 2024 📙 A New York Public Library Best-Of Pick SABRIEL meets WITCH KING in this deliciously dark fantasy! Preorder https://geni.us/asunder

“I’m dying.” His tone was matter-of-fact and his expression perfectly serious, but Karys had the feeling he might be making fun of her—exaggerating, or telling a strange sort of joke at her expense. Her mistrust mounted as she scrutinised his face. “You talk a lot for a dying man,” she said.

resurfacing the dark academia fantasy novelette i published earlier this year, about identity, assimilation & pursuit in a colonial institution ❤️ reactormag.com/the-name-ziy...

Announcing a BRAND NEW Gilded Age fantasy of ballrooms, bargains, and bloodshed from the one and only @nghivo.bsky.social!! The Scarlet Ball commences October 2026 🩸

Not only is this superb historical SFF, but @wenyilee.bsky.social also writes magnificent critical articles!? This essay is such a good introduction to the present media fascination with cannibalism & consumerism 🥀 reactormag.com/tender-is-th...

you can take the girl out of the gothic but you can't take the gothic out of the girl! thank you @mollytempleton.com ❤️

When They Burned the Butterfly, by @wenyilee.bsky.social (pub by @torbooks.bsky.social), is a great love letter to Singapore, a historical inspired fantasy that you will enjoy if you like sapphic romance, street gangs and grey characters. Full thoughts: jamreads.com/reviews/when... 💙📚

I expect nothing less from the brilliant @amalelmohtar.com, but this is gorgeous and heartbreaking in every way. You all should read it. Free Palestine.

Today's Love Letter is a stunning meditation on birdwatching and the loss of a friendship, from the one and only @amalelmohtar.com stone-soup.ghost.io/love-letter-...

On the surface, a dark academia story with a vicious bite and wistful reminiscence. Beneath the surface, a raw aching memory for anyone who had once sacrificed a part of themselves to survive and thrive on hostile soil. Really love this story by @wenyilee.bsky.social

"Consider the contemporary cannibal as metaphor. There’s a long artistic tradition of using physical appetite to symbolise emotional appetite...be it wanting to exploit, wanting to enact revenge, or wanting as loving desire." @wenyilee.bsky.social reactormag.com/tender-is-th...

this was SO fun to write 🍽🥩

As part of our module on imperialism, our reading group's fiction selection was "The Name Ziya," a short story by @wenyilee.bsky.social. <1 hr to finish. Packed with powerful, true-to-reality themes, some obvious, others nuanced. Perfect for a Sunday read and for discussion with comrades.

13 Works of Sapphic Asian Historical Fiction by @wenyilee.bsky.social debutiful.net/2025/10/24/1...

In the PEN Ten interview, @wenyilee.bsky.social discusses her new novel, When They Burned the Butterfly (@tordotcom.bsky.social, 2025), the importance of community, using prose to express emotion, and how a mysterious fire from the ‘60s played a role in Singaporean history. pen.org/wen-yi-lee-t...

New episode! Join in with @wenyilee.bsky.social as we talk WHEN THEY BURNED THE BUTTERFLY, her book about a girl gang in 1970s Singapore. We talk fantasy, nation-building, marginalization, and more in this episode of the show. Find us at Sley House Presents where you podcast! Links below:

WHEN THEY BURNED THE BUTTERFLY is out today!!! it's a dark sapphic fantasy about a girl gang with a fire god in 70s Singapore, about female rage and claiming your own places. to the complex girls and to home. yours to read now, I hope you enjoy ❤️🦋

The Dark We Know author @wenyilee.bsky.social makes her adult debut with When They Burned The Butterfly, a "mythical, intimate" tale of colonialism and folklore set in 1972 Singapore. Checkout @unstablebooks.bsky.social full review now: www.thefandomentals.com/wen-yi-lees-...

“No Mirrors Here” by @akatherineblack.bsky.social from The Dark, “The Name Ziya” by @wenyilee.bsky.social from @reactorsff.bsky.social, and more short fic recs from @paulaguran here -

i've heard a bit about this book and it's so so delightful 💕

Had the honor of reading an ARC of When They Burned the Butterfly by @wenyilee.bsky.social, a sapphic historical fantasy in 1970s Singapore. It's got it all: toxic yuri, a charismatic butch, and dangerous pacts with otherworldly entities. It releases 10/21 and I want everyone to read it!

sapphic fantasy fall (girl gangs & golems edition) ✨ on BUTTERFLY release week, come join @maddiesmartinez.bsky.social and I over on IG on 26 Oct to talk about our sapphic fantasy books and our joint publishing journeys!

the sapphic historical fantasy in post/colonial Asia conversation ✨️ I'll be having a virtual launch for WHEN THEY BURNED THE BUTTERFLY with Vaishnavi Patel on 21 Oct!! link in bio to register :)

announcing the WHEN THEY BURNED THE BUTTERFLY preorder campaign!! send me your preorder receipts now till Oct 21 (with an exclusive for certain Singapore bookstores) & get some pretty gifts ft. all southeast asian artists! links in bio 🦋✨

less than 1 month till Butterfly is out and we have another excerpt for youuu

In a newly integrated insect metropolis, generations clash around art, technology, and capitalism. Boris, a rural vesper, chases modernity to the city, but tradition is there first. Next week. "Laurie on the Radio" by Sam Davis!! Art by Michael Hirshon Edited by @annvandermeer.bsky.social

Full article on the making of if @wenyilee.bsky.social 'When They Burned The Butterfly' cover on Reactor!

if you ever wanted to know how an author & publishing team design a book cover: enjoy!!!!! (in which I talk about wong kar wai inspirations, we share BUTTERFLY cover sketches, and my artist @carissasusilo.bsky.social actually sets something on fire)

. @torbooks.bsky.social has a free extended preview of my forthcoming sapphic fantasy BUTTERFLY up online!! ❤️✨️ us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

i've been chewing on this essay for a long time ~ deeply grateful to @ruadanbooks.bsky.social for giving it a home and to @mariahaskins.com for her careful editing 💚 ruadanbooks.com/missing-myth...

christina called my main character a bitch and i said yes correct thank you 🫶🏼

New from this post is perhaps my favorite novelette of the year to date, “The Name Ziya” by @wenyilee.bsky.social, a story of academia and colonialism that’s gripping from the start and remarkably emotionally complicated for the lead reactormag.com/the-name-ziy...

my favourite short story i've ever written is out now on reactor 💖 it's fantasy dark academia about access to colonial institutions, assimilation, complicity, cultural names & identity (with a sapphic mc!)

I honestly forgot I had this account. Reading an ARC of @wenyilee.bsky.social’s adult sapphic Southeast Asian fantasy that’s filled with fire and longing. And butterflies. #felireads #booksky #reading #books

Pst, hey contributors! @sentencebender.bsky.social @dynamicsymmetry.bsky.social @ayshaufarah.bsky.social @margaret.bsky.social @mayadeane.bsky.social @domsdickey.bsky.social @wenyilee.bsky.social @bendibarrett.bsky.social @itsneonyang.bsky.social @katharineduckett.bsky.social & more!!

dark academia fantasy short story out june 18th!!

i am currently reading this + loving absolutely every story! a few highlights so far: "They Will Give Us a Home" by @wenyilee.bsky.social (begging for an arc of their adult debut tbh) + "When the Devil Comes from Babylon" @mayadeane.bsky.social @erewhonbooks.bsky.social @leemandelo.bsky.social

Got an Uncorrected Bound Manuscript from Tor Books! When They Burned the Butterfly, by Wen-Yi Lee! @wenyilee.bsky.social 💖

Really enjoyed "Red, Scuttle When the Ships Come Down" by @wenyilee.bsky.social over at @uncannymagazine.bsky.social. Really well written, well told story that unfolds perfectly. www.uncannymagazine.com/article/red-...

ARCs for When They Burned the Butterfly, my sapphic girl gang fantasy set in 1970s singapore, are up on both edelweiss & netgalley!!!! mine and now everyone else's 🥹

If you're in Bath and would like to pick up WORK-LIFE BALANCE, you can do so at Topping & Company! www.toppingbooks.co.uk/books/work-l...

I’m so happy. This is one of the biggest things to ever happen to me. 💛 nebulas.sfwa.org/award-year/2...

if you want singapore-inspired historical fantasy from me ahead of BUTTERFLY, my new magical realism story in the latest @UncannyMagazine is inspired by the crabs & colonial mining of christmas island + singapore's 1963 prison island riot 🦀❤️