YERIN HA TO NARRATE THE AUDIOBOOK OF MIN JIN LEE’S AMERICAN HAGWON
NEW YORK, NY (September 1, 2026) — Yerin Ha, the celebrated actress best known for her roles as Sophie Baek in the Netflix series Bridgerton and Mia Chang in The Survivors, narrates Min Jin Lee’s AMERICAN HAGWON, delivering a pitch-perfect performance of what Booklist calls an “immersive masterpiece.” Hachette Audio will publish the audiobook of AMERICAN HAGWON, alongside print and eBook editions from Cardinal/Grand Central Publishing, on September 29th, 2026.
Min Jin Lee, author of beloved novels Free Food for Millionaires and Pachinko, a New York Times “100 Best Books of the Century,” returns with a panoramic and emotionally riveting portrait of one family’s pursuit of success in a perpetually shifting world.
Ha delivers a masterful performance of AMERICAN HAGWON in both English and Korean, bringing to vivid life what Tara Westover declares a “novel of extraordinary ambition . . . a world so rich and intricate that you forget you’re reading—you’re simply living alongside the Kohs as they navigate betrayal, displacement, and the shifting promises of a better future.”
Spanning from the Asian IMF Crisis of the 1990s to 2008, AMERICAN HAGWON follows the Kohs—John, Helen, and their three children—as they move from Korea to Sydney and eventually to Southern California, and from universities and after-school hagwons to luxury boutiques, nail salons, and fast-food restaurants, as they work to get ahead. All the while, in a world that seems to grow less forgiving with each passing year, they nurture the almost all-consuming faith that education will lead to lasting success.
Min Jin Lee says of Ha’s performance:
“A wondrous and mesmerizing reading of American Hagwon. It’s a miraculous gift to haveYerin Ha, an exceptionally talented actor, who like the Koh family, has lived in Sydney, Seoul, and California, bring rich sympathy, incredible drama, and an earnest joy to her beautiful performance of the novel.”
In AMERICAN HAGWON, Min Jin Lee has crafted an indelible novel where the smallest of gestures can have enormous repercussions, where the bonds of family and of memory twist and fray but rarely break, and where willful self-sacrifice—for the benefit of loved ones and even strangers—is a kind of prayer.
About Min Jin Lee:
Min Jin Lee is the author of the novels Free Food for Millionaires and Pachinko, a finalist for the National Book Award, runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and a New York Times “100 Best Books of the Century.” She serves as the New York State Author Laureate from 2025 through 2027. She is the 2024 recipient of The Fitzgerald Prize for Literary Excellence. Lee has received the Manhae Grand Prize for Literature, the Bucheon Diaspora Literary Award, and the Samsung Happiness for Tomorrow Award for Creativity from South Korea. She is the recipient of fellowships in Fiction from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Lee is an inductee of the New York Foundation for the Arts Hall of Fame and the New York State Writers Hall of Fame. She lives in Harlem with her family.
About Yerin Ha:
Yerin Ha is a Korean Australian actor and was named as this year’s SAG Ambassador for the Actor Awards and also featured on Variety’s 8 API Up Next in Entertainment List.
Earlier this year, she starred as Sophie Baek in Bridgerton Season 4, which marks a major milestone for the series, as she becomes the first East Asian actress to lead Bridgerton. Ha has starred in Netflix’s The Survivors and her previous television credits include HBO’s Dune: Prophecy, released in late 2024, and Paramount +’s Halo, executive produced by Steven Spielberg,
On stage, Ha made her UK theatre debut starring in Jean Genet’s The Maids at London’s Donmar Warehouse, a world premiere production directed by Kip Williams in 2025. She led The Maids in New York’s St. Ann’s Warehouse in 2026.
About Hachette Audio:
Hachette Audio provides Hachette Book Group authors with best-in-class audiobook publishing, working closely with authors from every Hachette print division and imprint sharing the author’s words with skilled actors, directors, and producers to create recordings that areboth faithful to the text and a truly immersive and distinctive experience. Hachette Audio has been recognized for the highest quality of content and production with numerous GRAMMY, Audie, Listen Up! and Earphone awards.
About Hachette Book Group:
Hachette Book Group (HBG) is a leading U.S. general-interest book publisher made up of dozens of esteemed imprints within the publishing groups Basic Books Group, Grand Central Publishing Group, Hachette Audio, Little, Brown and Company, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Orbit, Workman Publishing, and Running Press Group. We also provide custom distribution, fulfillment, and sales services to several publishing companies.
Our books and authors have received the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Caldecott Medal, Newbery Medal, Booker Prize, Nobel Peace Prize, James Beard Award, and other major honors.
We are committed to diversity in our company and our publishing programs, and to fostering a culture of inclusion for all our employees and authors. We are proud to be part of Hachette Livre, the world’s third-largest trade and educational publisher.
Visit hachettebookgroup.com to learn more about HBG imprints. For updated news follow HBG on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Threads, TikTok, X.com, Snapchat, and YouTube.
Media Contact: Christina Claverie, Christina.Claverie@hbgusa.com