“I wish Mom were here to read your book. She would have been very happy and said it was the best present of her life. Thank you, Alice. You did a great job.”
My dad’s words confirmed it — this was something my mom and I were meant to make together.
On-Hi Lee, Writer & Mother
On-Hi Lee immigrated from Seoul to the United States in 1966, where she and her husband built a life in Chicago and raised three daughters. She became an active part of the Korean American community, helping create organizations that fostered connection and belonging.
A graduate of Sookmyung Women’s University with a degree in Korean Literature, she shared her voice through forty-two published essays in Chicago’s Korea Daily News and the Korea Times. In them, she reflected on immigration, family, and life in a new country.
Alice Lee-Osborne, Zine Creator & Daughter
Alice Lee-Osborne, the youngest of On-Hi Lee’s three daughters, grew up in the Chicago suburbs with the stability her parents built through years of hard work and sacrifice. Immersed in North Shore culture and caught up in her own life, she reduced her mother to an immigrant stereotype, failing to see the woman behind it.
Re-discovering and translating her mother’s essays years later allowed her to see her mom as a writer with her own voice and perspective. By publishing and preserving these essays, she ensures her mother’s voice is carried forward. Alice lives in Alameda, California, with her husband and their two sons.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Jennifer Halverson, Translator-Interpreter
Jean Tom, Translator
Erica Hwang, Editor
Chun Park, Reporter, Chicago Korea Daily News
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