N. K. Jemisin

Nora K. Jemisin
Born	Iowa City, Iowa, United States
Pen name	N. K. Jemisin
Occupation	Novelist, psychologist, career counselor
Language	English
Genre	Science fiction, fantasy

N. K. Jemisin (born September 19, 1972) is an American speculative fiction writer and blogger. Her debut novel, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, was nominated for the 2010 Nebula Award, the 2011 Hugo Award, and the World Fantasy Award,^[1] was short-listed for the James Tiptree Jr. Award, and won the 2011 Sense of Gender Award. Also in 2010, her short story "Non-Zero Probabilities" was a finalist for the Hugo and Nebula Awards. Her fiction explores a wide variety of themes, including cultural conflict and oppression, via fantasy and science-fictional milieu.^[2]

Early life

N. K. Jemisin was born in Iowa City, Iowa, and grew up in New York City and Mobile, Alabama. She lived in Massachusetts for ten years and then moved to New York City.^[3] Jemisin attended Tulane University from 1990 to 1994, where she received a B.S. in psychology.^[3] She went on to earn her Master of Education from the University of Maryland College Park.

Career

A graduate of the 2002 Viable Paradise writing workshop,^[3] Jemisin has published a number of short stories and completed several novels.

Jemisin was a member of the Boston-area writing group BRAWLers, and is a member of Altered Fluid. In May 2013 it was announced that she would be co-Guest of Honor of the 2014 WisCon science fiction convention in Madison, Wisconsin.^[4] She was the Author Guest of Honor at Arisia 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts.^[5]

During her delivery of the Guest of Honour speech at the 2013 Continuum in Australia, Jemisin complained that 10% of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SWFA) membership voted for conservative writer Theodore Beale (also known as Vox Day) in his bid for the SFWA presidential position. She went on to call Beale "racist, misogynistic, and hateful" and noted that silence about these issues was the same as enabling. Beale responded by calling her an "educated but ignorant savage."^[6] A link to his comments was tweeted on the SFWA Authors Twitter feed, and Beale was subsequently expelled from the organization.

Personal life

Jemisin lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.^[7]

Bibliography

Novels

The Inheritance Trilogy

• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (2010)
• The Broken Kingdoms (2010)
• The Kingdom of Gods (2011)^[8]

A novella entitled The Awakened Kingdom set in the Inheritance Trilogy was released along with an omnibus of the trilogy on December 9, 2014.^[9]

A triptych entitled Shades in Shadow was released July 28, 2015. It contained three short stories, including a prequel to the Inheritance Trilogy.^[10]

Dreamblood series

• The Killing Moon (2012)^[11]
• The Shadowed Sun (2012)

The Broken Earth Trilogy

• The Fifth Season (August 2015)
• The Obelisk Gate (August 2016)

Short stories

• "L'Alchimista," published in Scattered, Covered, Smothered, Two Cranes Press, 2004. Winner of an Honorable Mention from The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, 18th collection. Also available as an Escape Pod episode
• "Too Many Yesterdays, Not Enough Tomorrows," Ideomancer, 2004.
• "Cloud Dragon Skies," Strange Horizons, 2005. Also an Escape Pod episode
• "Red Riding-Hood's Child," Fishnet, 2005.
• "The You Train," Strange Horizons, 2007.
• "Bittersweet," Abyss and Apex, 2007.
• "The Narcomancer," Helix, reprinted in Transcriptase, 2007.
• "The Brides of Heaven," Helix, reprinted in Transcriptase, 2007.
• "Playing Nice With God's Bowling Ball," Baen's Universe, 2008.
• "The Dancer's War," published in Like Twin Stars: Bisexual Erotic Stories, Circlet Press, 2009.
• "Non-Zero Probabilities," Clarkesworld Magazine, 2009.
• "Sinners, Saints, Dragons, and Haints in the City Beneath the Still Waters," Postscripts, 2010.
• "On the Banks of the River Lex," Clarkesworld Magazine, 11/2010
• "The Effluent Engine," published in Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories, Torquere Press, 2011
• "The Trojan Girl," Weird Tales, 2011
• "Valedictorian," published in After: Nineteen Stories of Apocalypse and Dystopia, Hyperion Book CH, 2012

Award nominations

• 2010 Nebula Award, for The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms^[12]
• 2010 Goodreads Choice Award, for The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms^[13]
• 2010 Hugo Award, for Non-Zero Probabilities^[14]
• 2010 Nebula Award, for Non-Zero Probabilities^[15]
• 2011 Hugo Award, for The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
• 2011 World Fantasy Award, for The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms^[16]
• 2012 Nebula Award, for The Killing Moon^[17]
• 2013 World Fantasy Award, for The Killing Moon'^[18]

References

1. Locus Online News - World Fantasy Nominees and Lifetime Achievement Winners on LocusMag.com, 28 July 2011
2. Orbit Books
3. N.K. Jemisin: Rites of Passage, Locus Magazine, August 2010
4. "Announcing WisCon 38's Guests of Honor: Hiromi Goto and N.K. Jemisin" A Momentary Taste of WisCon 37 (Elizabeth Stone, ed.) Issue #4 (May 26, 2013), p. 2
5. Arisia 2015 Guest of Honor Bios
6. El-Mohtar, Amal (13 June 2013). "Calling for the Expulsion of Theodore Beale from SFWA". Retrieved 14 Jan 2016.
7. Payne, Marshall. "Nebula Awards 2010 Interview: N.K. Jemisin". Retrieved 14 Jan 2016.
8. Nkjemisin.com
9. Nkjemisin.com
10. Nkjemisin.com
11. Das, Indrapramit. "In Dreams: N.K. Jemisin's The Killing Moon". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
12. Sfwa.org
13. Goodreads Choice Awards—Fantasy Nominations
14. 2010 Hugo Award Nominees Details
15. 2009 Nebula Awards Final Ballot
16. Renovation Hugo nominee announcement
17. Sfwa.org
18. World Fantasy Award nominees 2013

External links

• Official website
• N.K. Jemisin describes worldbuilding
• Fantasy Book Review Biography
• Carl Brandon Society Wiki entry
• Feminist Science Fiction Wiki entry
• N. K. Jemisin at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database