Bio & Press
Press Kit
Looking for the Press Kit, with bios of various lengths and downloadable pictures? It’s here.
About Aliette
Aliette de Bodard was born in the US, but grew up in France (in the gorgeous city of Paris, to be precise). Although French is her mother tongue, her parents insisted early on that she learn to speak English.
She first discovered SF through the works of Isaac Asimov, and then moved to fantasy when she happened upon a copy of Ursula Le Guin’s “The Earthsea Quartet”, which today remains one of her favorite books in the genre. She decided to write when her family moved to London for a few years: she found a copy of Orson Scott Card’s “How to Write Fantasy and Science Fiction”, which first made her realise that she could try her hand at writing.
She is an alumni of Saint-Louis de Gonzague (Paris), Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle (London), and studied in Lycée Louis le Grand (Paris), in a classe préparatoire, a prep course for the competitive exams which would enable her to enter an engineering school. After two years of intensive classes, Aliette was admitted into Ecole Polytechnique, one of France’s top engineering schools. During her class préparatoire, she started writing regularly, which enabled her to find a distraction from science. She completed two novels during her studies.
Halfway through Ecole Polytechnique, she started writing short stories instead of novels, in order to improve faster–and went on writing those after she graduated.
In June 2006, Aliette attended Orson Scott Card’s Literary Bootcamp, which enabled her to sharpen her skills, as well as come back with a wealth of information about the craft and the business of writing.
Her writing took off after she got picked out of Interzone‘s slushpile by the inimitable Jetse de Vries; this marked the beginning of a growing number of sales, out of which several were made to semi-professional or professional markets. She won Writers of the Future in 2007, and was able to join SFWA as an Active Member in 2008, and became a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2009, narrowly losing to David Anthony Durham.
She has won three Nebula Awards, an Ignyte Award, a Locus Award, a European Science Fiction Association Achievement Award and four British Science Fiction Association Awards, in addition to being a finalist for the Hugo and Sturgeon Award, and on the Tiptree Award Honour List. She is a current Hugo, Ignyte and Locus award finalist.
She is the author of the Hugo-award-nominated series The Universe of Xuya, set in a galactic empire of Vietnamese inspiration, where scholars administrate planets and sentient spaceships are parts of families, the latest book of which is Seven of Infinities (Subterranean Press, Locus Award finalist).
She also wrote the Dominion of the Fallen series, set in an alternate Paris devastated by a magical war, which comprises The House of Shattered Wings (Gollancz/Ace, 2015 British Science Fiction Award and Locus Award finalist), The House of Binding Thorns (Gollancz/Ace, 2017 European Science Fiction Association Achievement Award, Locus Award finalist), The House of Sundering Flames (Gollancz/JABberwocky Literary Agency, Locus Award finalist), and Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders (JABberwocky Literary Agency, Locus Award finalist).
Her latest book Fireheart Tiger (Tor.com) is a sapphic romantic fantasy set in a universe inspired by precolonial Vietnam.
Aliette lives in Paris with her family, in a flat with more computers than she really needs, and a bunch of Lovecraftian plants that are steadily taking over the living room.
Awards
- 2020 Ignyte Award, “Best Novelette”, for “The Inaccessibility of Heaven”, Uncanny Magazine
- 2018 British Fantasy Award, “Best Novella”, for The Tea Master and the Detective, Subterranean Press/JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.
- 2018 Nebula Award, “Best Novella”, for The Tea Master and the Detective, Subterranean Press/JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.
- 2018 British Science Fiction Association Award, “Best Non-Fiction”, for the article “On Motherhood and Erasure”
- 2017 European Science Fiction Society Achievement Award, “Best Novel”, for The House of Binding Thorns (Gollancz/Ace)
- 2015 British Science Fiction Association Award, “Best Novel”, for The House of Shattered Wings (Gollancz/Roc)
- 2015 British Science Fiction Association Award, “Best Short Fiction”, for “Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight” (Clarkesworld Magazine)
- 2013 Nebula Award, “Best Novelette”, for “The Waiting Stars” in The Other Half of the Sky, ed. Athena Andreadis and Kay Holt
- 2012 Nebula Award and 2012 Locus Award, “Best Short Story”, for “Immersion”, in Clarkesworld Magazine June 2012
- 2010 British Science Fiction Association Award, “Best Short Fiction”, for “The Shipmaker” in Interzone
- Finalist for Locus Award 2020, “Best Novella”, for Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders and Seven of Infinities
- Finalist for Locus Award 2020, “Best Novelette” for “The Inaccessibility of Heaven”
- Finalist for Hugo Award 2020, “Best Novelette”, for “The Inaccessibility of Heaven”
- Finalist for Locus Award 2020, “Best Short Story” for “In the Lands of the Spill”
- Finalist for Locus Award 2019, “Best Collection”, for Of Wars, and Memories, and Starlight
- Finalist for World Fantasy Awards 2019, “Best Novella”, for The Tea Master and the Detective
- Double finalist for Hugo Award 2019, “Best Series” for The Universe of Xuya and “Best Novella” for The Tea Master and the Detective
- Finalist for Locus Award 2018, “Best Novella”, for The Tea Master and the Detective
- Finalist for Lammy Award 2018, “LGBTQ SF/F/Horror”, for In the Vanishers’ Palace
- Finalist for Locus Award 2017, “Best Novel”, for The House of Binding Thorns, published by Ace (US)/Gollancz (UK, Rest of the World)
- Finalist for Locus Award 2015, “Best Novel”, for The House of Shattered Wings, published by Roc (US)/Gollancz(UK, Rest of the World)
- Finalist for Locus Award 2015, “Best Novella”, for The Citadel of Weeping Pearls, published in Asimov’s, October/November 2015
- Finalist for Locus Award 2015, “Best Short Story”, for “Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight”, published in Clarkesworld, January 2015
- Finalist for Nebula Award 2014, “Best Short Story”, for “The Breath of War”, published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies March 2014
- Finalist for Locus Award 2014, “Best Novelette”, for “Memorials”, in Asimov’s January 2014
- Finalist for Locus Award 2014, “Best Short Story”, for “The Dust Queen”, in Reach for Infinity, ed. Jonathan Strahan
- Finalist for “Best Novelette”, Hugo Award, 2013; and Locus Award, 2013, for “The Waiting Stars” in The Other Half of the Sky, ed. Athena Andreadis and Kay Holt
- Honor List for Tiptree Award, 2014, “Heaven under Earth”, in Electric Velocipede 24
- Finalist for “Best Novella”, Hugo Award, 2012; Nebula Award, 2012; and Locus Award, 2012, for On A Red Station, Drifting
- Finalist for “Best Short Story”, Hugo Award, 2012; Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award; and Locus Award, “Best Short Story”, for “Immersion”, in Clarkesworld Magazine June 2012
- Finalist for Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, 2012, “Best Short Story”, “Scattered Along the River of Heaven”, in Clarkesworld Magazine January 2012
Want to know more?
- Sign up for the newsletter here
- Interview with Locus (excerpts)
- More detailed list of Aliette’s books
Click here for a bio in varying lengths and downloadable author photos.
Original Picture credits
Pigeon and Bridge: Vincent Boiteau
(All pictures distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License)