Chang-rae Lee, the Stanford University writing professor whose "The Surrendered" was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, will appear at Kepler's Books in Menlo Park on Friday, Aug. 21, to discuss his new novel "A Tender Age."

The ticketed event ($12–$45) pairs Lee with Bay Area novelist Elaine Castillo for a 6 p.m. conversation at the bookstore, 1010 El Camino Real. According to Kepler's event listing, Lee is returning to the store, where he has appeared before.

"A Tender Age," published by Riverhead Books on Tuesday, Aug. 11, follows 11-year-old Korean-American Jeon-Gi, a child of immigrants. The publisher describes it as an exploration of American masculinity and family dynamics told through the eyes of a prepubescent boy. The novel runs 368 pages.

Lee, who holds the Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Professorship in Stanford's English Department, emigrated from Seoul to the United States with his parents when he was three. His previous novels include "Native Speaker," which won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, and "The Surrendered," which won the Dayton Peace Prize. In 2021, the American Academy of Arts and Letters gave him its Award of Merit for the Novel. The Los Angeles Times once asked of his work: "Who is a greater novelist than Chang-rae Lee?"

The Kepler's stop is the second of a two-night Bay Area swing. The night before, on Thursday, Aug. 20, Lee speaks with "The Incendiaries" novelist R.O. Kwon at Green Apple Books in San Francisco at 7 p.m.

Lee's appearance anchors a busy August at Kepler's. Pulitzer Prize winner Andrew Sean Greer discusses "Villa Coco" with Karen Joy Fowler on Wednesday, Aug. 19 ($12–$45). Bora Lee Reed reads from "Song for Another Home" with Natalie Baszile on Thursday, Aug. 20 ($15–$43). A free "Story Is the Thing" reading series on Thursday, Aug. 6, features Grant Faulkner, Vanessa Hua, Lindsay Kent, and J.P. Lacrampe.

Kepler's, founded in 1955 by peace activist Roy Kepler, has long drawn Stanford students and faculty. The store hosts roughly 65 events a year, each attracting at least 100 people, according to Publishers Weekly. Its author-events program runs through the Kepler's Literary Foundation, a nonprofit spun off in 2012.

"It's a public good, just like the library, public radio, or public television," CEO Praveen Madan told Publishers Weekly in October 2025, when the store celebrated its 70th anniversary.

Tickets for the Chang-rae Lee event are available at keplers.org.