KC Lehman is a fiction writer and oral storyteller who enjoys music, mysteries, and the rare luxury of a midday nap. Her work focuses on exploring the lives of Black women, the secrets they carry from generation to generation, and how biases like colorism and featurism affect self-perception and worldview. When not introducing her kids to 90’s music or selling real estate in her hometown of Los Angeles, CA, KC contemplates and sometimes chats with the characters that live in her head until she gets them on the page. A graduate of UCLA, KC’s writing has received support from Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing, Roots. Wounds. Words. Inc, The Hurston/Wright Foundation, Anaphora Arts and Pen America. She is also a 2025 Tin House Summer Resident. Her writing has landed her placement in several writer’s workshops, including Tin House, Lighthouse Writers, and The Kenyon Review. Her work is forthcoming in Callaloo Literary Journal.
Residency Project: KC will be working on “The Sum Of Our Choices,” a short story collection about four generations of women in the Easter family, all members of the same church for almost a century. When the current matriarch, Deanie Easter, dies at age 99, her daughter, Verity, and granddaughter, Bridget, are tasked with planning her memorial. Through old photos, memories, and an heirloom family bible from Deanie’s mother, Daisy, the daughters learn and share secrets as they grieve. Knowing she thinks and moves differently than her foremothers, Bridget carves a new path to break free from the conservative blueprint the Easter women have followed their entire lives.