UT alumna Margaret Juhae Lee’s memoir, “Starry Field: A Memoir of Lost History,” releases next Tuesday with the promise of sharing her family’s history from Korean colonialism, to her life as an Asian American working to understand her identity. The Daily Texan talked with Lee about how her experience of unraveling her family’s history helped her and her family grow.

The Daily Texan: How did you begin writing “Starry Field”?

Margaret Juhae Lee: It began in 1998… with me helping my father search for information about my grandfather because my grandfather died when my dad was two and he grew up thinking his father was a criminal. He was kind of a figure of shame because he’d been in prison, and my father didn’t have time to look into it until he had a sabbatical in Korea … He started doing research, and he found out that my grandfather was one of the leaders of the student independence movement in his hometown during the colonial era. He was actually in history books and we had no idea … My grandfather’s grave was eventually moved to the national cemetery because he took part in this independence movement … I knew as a journalist that this was the story of a lifetime — uncovering this hero that happened to be my grandfather. 

DT: Why now is it finally getting to be published? 

MJL: When I first started this book, I thought it was a book of journalism, because that’s what I knew. (But) I realized that it was partly my story… It needed to be from my point of view… I put it down for a while, and I read a lot of fiction. I took writing classes. I also met my husband and had kids, and so my life was changing. Then I picked it back up, and I rewrote the whole thing … It wasn’t until I had kids that I knew I was writing it for them so they would grow up knowing about their past, which I didn’t have the luxury of having. 

DT: What was it like being named “Person of the Year” in 2020 by the Sangcheol Cultural Welfare Foundation in Kongju, South Korea for your work in honoring your grandfather? 

MJL: It was a total surprise … It happened after my parents passed away. We had some family land in my father’s hometown. My brothers and I decided we wanted to donate some of the family land to my father and grandfather’s high school. My father wanted to start a scholarship in my grandfather’s name because that was the high school (my grandfather) was kicked out of (at) 17 for protesting. That’s what, I think, the foundation was celebrating… that recognition has been great and it makes the whole family feel we have ties there.

DT: How have you been able to grow and better understand your identity through writing the memoir?

MJL: One of the major themes of the book is me searching for home … I feel at home with my kids, my husband, my extended family and interviewing my grandmother at the end of her life … I finally felt bonded to her. I learned about these stories and realized she was trying to protect her children … I didn’t know how to (be) comfortable enough to start my own family (before that). Knowing about my grandmother (cleared) the way for me to move towards what I really wanted — (having a family). That’s another big theme of the book.