D.A. Lee

D.A. Lee is an award-winning Bangladeshi-born, British, South Asian author, artist and poet, best known for her novel 'Written' published in 2019. Raised in a small town in Lancashire, England, Lee describes the cultural challenges of growing up in a Bengali household whilst navigating a western world. Lee's novel, whilst fictional, draws on many of her own experiences of growing up in a South Asian family and explores the underworld of cultural expectations, arranged marriages, honour, abuse and domestic violence that often limit women's choices. Lee first started writing as a form of self-healing through the challenges of home life. The word 'Written' had become a poignant theme throughout the book, a word often expressed culturally to describe the notion of determinism and predestination adopted by most traditional Muslim families as a common explanation for events in life. Lee takes us on a journey through her character Eleanor, a young girl caught between a web of family secrets and lies where she comes into conflict with these values. Today, Lee is an advocate for women's freedom of choice and encourages women to speak out and seek help if they feel they are in danger.