Lee Boudreaux Receives the 2026 Medal for Editorial Excellence
Lee Boudreaux, VP and Executive Editor at Doubleday receives the 2026 Medal for Editorial Excellence. © Nina Subin
Lee Boudreaux, Vice President and Executive Editor at Doubleday, has been awarded the Center for Fiction’s 2026 Medal for Editorial Excellence, a distinguished honor celebrating her outstanding editorial talent and enduring impact on the world of books.
Joining Doubleday in 2018 after holding positions at Little, Brown and Company; Ecco; and Random House, Lee seeks out original voices notable for their mastery of language, commanding narrative momentum, and, oftentimes, sense of humor. Throughout her career, she has championed emerging talent and collaborated with some of the most acclaimed voices in contemporary literature, such as Kate Atkinson, Margaret Atwood, Percival Everett, Bonnie Garmus, Andrew Sean Greer, Claire Lombardo, Madeline Miller, Maria Reva, Curtis Sittenfeld, and Sunil Yapa.
The books she edited have earned many of publishing’s highest honors, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Booker Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Orange Prize, and numerous PEN awards.
“Anyone who’s ever received a bolded sixteen-point type email from Lee festooned with multiple exclamation points, or heard her pitch a book with her honey-laden Southern accent turned up to eleven, understands why her exuberant advocacy has propelled so many of the novels she has edited to outsized success,” Bill Thomas, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief at Doubleday said. “Lee pays no attention to fashions or trends. Her only criterion is if she falls in love with what she reads, she wants to bring the book into the world.”
The Medal for Editorial Excellence recognizes outstanding achievement in the field of book editing and celebrates the editors whose vision, advocacy, and partnership help shape literary culture. Lee will receive the Medal for Editorial Excellence at the Annual Awards Benefit on Tuesday, December 8, 2026 in New York City.
Previous recipients of the Medal for Editorial Excellence include Kate Medina (Random House); Kathryn Belden (Scribner); Graywolf Press; Sarah McGrath (Riverhead Books); Alvina Ling (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers); and Chris Jackson (One World). Visit The Center’s website for more information.
Please join us in congratulating Lee and Doubleday on this incredible recognition!
CONTINUED PRIASE FOR LEE BOUDREAUX
“Lee Boudreaux, aside from having a cool name, is a terrific editor. She has made my work better at every turn. Yes, she is annoying, but that’s only because she is usually right. She is smart, quick, and always in service to the story.”
–Percival Everett, Award-Winning Author of JAMES
“Lee Boudreaux’s passion for literature and her authors is joyous and inspiring. She’s also an Olympic archer—she can spot at fifty paces the moments where the story goes slack, or needs to deepen, and she sees clearly through to the heart of the author’s intent. Her wisdom and knowledge run deep, while her touch is light and deft. I feel eternal gratitude and great good fortune to have had her as my editor.”
–Madeline Miller, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of CIRCE
“Lee is superheroically good at what she does—eagle-eyed, intuitive, brilliant, humane, and boundlessly enthusiastic. To work with her is to be truly and enormously fortunate.”
–Claire Lombardo, New York Times Bestselling Author of THE MOST FUN WE EVER HAD
“Lee Boudreaux is the meanest, cruelest person in New York. She can charm you into transforming your book from dreck into what it always should have been, all the while filling you with discovery and delight. She is a sorceress, a conjurer, and a demon, by which I mean: she is simply the best and I love her.
–Andrew Sean Greer, Award-Winning Author of LESS