Lya Badgley

Award-winning author of literary suspense exploring the shadows of the heart and the stories we inherit.

Lya Badgley writes internationally set fiction that blends suspense, history, and transformation. Born in Myanmar to Montana parents—a political scientist and an artist—she was raised in a home that prized both creativity and critical thought. Her unconventional path has carried her from Seattle’s music scene to covert film work with Burmese insurgents, and from archival preservation in Cambodia to entrepreneurship in Yangon.

Her debut, The Foreigner’s Confession (2022), was a finalist for the Nancy Pearl Award for Best Fiction. Her second, The Worth of a Ruby (2023), was a 2024 finalist for both the International Book Award and the National Indie Excellence Award. She lives outside Seattle and is excited to release her third novel, The Thirty-Fifth Page.