Lee Winter (born in Christchurch, New Zealand)^[1] is the pen name^[2] of an Australian journalist and novelist specializing in lesbian fiction.

Lee Winter spent her early years growing up on the Gold Coast, Queensland,^[3] before her family moved to Brisbane. Originally, she had a three-decade career in journalism, winning awards for her work. Later, she became a novelist, specializing in lesbian fiction, covering genres from mystery and thriller to romance.^[4]

In 2015 Winter released the novel The Red Files; Marisol Cortez of Lesbians on the Loose described it as "a great read by a promising debut author", praised the writing and characters, and noted the inspiration from Winter's journalism career.^[5] In 2016, she wrote the novel Requiem for Immortals; Tara Scott of Lesbians on the Loose said, "if I want to read something from a different genre, it’s a relief to not have to leave lesfic to find it, and Requiem for Immortals perfectly scratches that itch."^[6] Both of these novels were nominated for the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Mystery^[7] and won the Golden Crown Literary Society for Mystery/Thriller: The Red Files in 2016 and Requiem for Immortals in 2017.^[8]

In 2017 she wrote the novel Shattered,^[9] which won the 2018 Golden Crown Literary Society Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy.^[8] In 2020, she wrote the novel Hotel Queens, which won the 2021 Golden Crown Literary Society Award for Romantic Blend.^[8]

In 2023 Winter started a new book series, The Villains, with The Fixer as the inaugural title.^[10] Writing for Autostraddle, Christina Tucker said of the book, "If you have ever known the joy and the pain of being totally head-over-heels invested in a slow burn, incomplete fanfic, then The Fixer is for you, I promise."^[11] The Fixer broke its publisher Ylva Publishing's record for most preorders.^[4] That same year, Winter released another novel, Chaos Agent, which Tucker said "surprised [her] with its smart and heartfelt combination of questions about morality and ethics, as it concluded the story that began in The Fixer.^[12] Writing for AfterEllen, Claire Heuchan described The Villains as "a slick political thriller [l]ike Scandal if Olivia Pope was sapphic", noting that the relationship between the series' main characters Eden and Michelle was "the ultimate Opposites Attract romance".^[4] She was one of three winners of that year's Alice B Readers Award.^[13]

According to Heuchan, Winter's novels include a "deep understanding of media, politics, and how power is structured".^[4]

Winter works as an editor part-time.^[14]