Mackenzi Lee holds a BA in history and an MFA in creative writing from Simmons College. Her novel, The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, was a New York Times bestseller, an ABA bestseller, has been optioned for film by Greg Berlanti for HBO, was a 2018 Stonewall Honor book, and won the New England Book Award. In the style of a classic adventure novel, it tells the story of a bisexual British lord undertaking his Grand Tour in the 1700s, with humor, mystery, and magic while also exploring the queer experience in 18th century Europe. It was named one of the best books of 2017 by outlets from NPR to Vulture, and praised by Teen Vogue as “The queer teen historical you didn’t know was missing from your life.” Its sequel The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy was an instant New York Times Bestseller, and the series wrapped up in 2021 with The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks. The series has been translated into over twenty languages.
Mackenzi is also the author of Bygone Badass Broads, a collection of short biographies of women in history you probably don’t know about but definitely should, based on her viral twitter series of the same name; and The History of the World in 50 Dogs, which is the same thing but dogs. She is currently finishing a series with Marvel detailing the origin stories of fan-favorite antiheroes from the Marvel Universe, including Loki, The Winter Soldier, Nebula, and Gamora.
In 2020, Mackenzi was included on the Forbes 30 Under 30 media list. Her short fiction and nonfiction has appeared in The Boston Globe, Atlas Obscura, Teen Vogue, and Bust Magazine, among others.
