Min Jin Lee, the Korean American author best known for the novel “Pachinko,” has been appointed to the inaugural committee of New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, according to his transition team.
Mamdani’s mayoral transition office on Thursday released a list of 48 inaugural committee members, describing them as New Yorkers drawn from diverse fields and communities whose work reflects the city’s cultural and civic life.
The committee will help host and advise on events surrounding Mamdani’s inauguration on Jan. 1.
Lee gained international recognition for “Pachinko,” a multigenerational novel tracing the lives of a Korean family in Japan amid discrimination, migration and displacement.
The book became a global bestseller and was later adapted into a television drama, cementing Lee’s reputation as a leading literary voice on diaspora, identity and inequality.
The inaugural committee also includes actors Cynthia Nixon and John Turturro, comedian Kal Penn, novelist Colson Whitehead and jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins.
Mamdani, 34, will become New York City’s first Muslim mayor when he takes office.
According to CBS News, he is scheduled to take a private oath of office at midnight on Jan. 1, administered by New York Attorney General Letitia James, followed by a public swearing-in ceremony at City Hall at 1 p.m. Senator Bernie Sanders is expected to administer the public oath.
Public celebrations, including a block party near City Hall, are also planned for the day.
According to the New York Post, Mamdani’s transition committee has raised at least $3.7 million, far outpacing his predecessors’ pre-inauguration fundraising, with more than half of donors coming from outside New York.
- [Photo News] Nongshim lights up London’s Piccadilly Circus
- Subsidy for exiting prostitution faces backlash after viral complaint
- Ruling party chair apologizes for floor leader’s graft scandal
- SK Chemicals bolsters new drug development through open innovation
- Seventeen tops Billboard’s 2025 K-pop artist list
Most Commented