Author Bios

Esi Edugyan is a Canadian novelist of Ghanaian heritage whose fiction moves with confidence through history’s margins, giving voice to characters—often Black, often displaced—whose stories have been suppressed or overlooked. Born in 1978 in Calgary, Alberta, Edugyan studied creative writing at the University of Victoria and later at Johns Hopkins University, where she earned her…

Richard Powers is an American novelist celebrated for his extraordinary synthesis of scientific knowledge and literary ambition, producing novels that ask readers to reckon with biology, technology, consciousness, and the ethical demands of living on a damaged planet. Born in 1957 in Evanston, Illinois, Powers grew up in Thailand and the American Midwest before studying…

Brit Bennett is an American novelist whose fiction examines the weight of secrets, the porousness of racial identity, and the long afterlives of the choices people make when they are very young. Born in 1990 in Southern California and raised in the San Diego area, Bennett grew up in a close-knit Black community whose rhythms…

James McBride is an American author, musician, and journalist whose work sits at the crossroads of history, identity, and the enduring search for belonging. Born in 1957 in Brooklyn, New York, McBride grew up in a large, mixed-race family—the child of a Black father and a white Jewish mother who converted to Christianity—and the complexity…

Robert J. Sawyer is one of Canada’s most celebrated and internationally recognised science fiction authors, widely regarded as the pre-eminent Canadian voice in hard science fiction and as one of the field’s most thoughtful and prolific practitioners. Born in Ottawa in 1960 and raised in Toronto, he studied broadcasting at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan…

Philippa Ballantine is a New Zealand-born author and podcaster who has built one of the more prolific and varied careers in contemporary science fiction and fantasy, producing work across multiple series and formats and developing a substantial readership through both traditional publishing and the pioneering use of podcasting to distribute fiction. Born and raised in…

Peng Shepherd is an American author of speculative and literary fiction whose work blends the emotional depth of literary fiction with the imaginative premises of science fiction and fantasy. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from New York University’s creative writing programme and has been a resident at multiple prestigious writing programmes, including the…

Dan Hanks is a British author of science fiction and fantasy whose work wears its pop cultural influences — particularly the adventure films of the 1980s — with cheerful pride, delivering genre entertainment that is knowingly nostalgic without being merely imitative. He is based in Manchester, England, and has worked in various creative fields before…

Al Hess is an American author of science fiction and fantasy whose work centres LGBTQ+ characters — particularly transgender and non-binary protagonists — in genre narratives that prioritise warmth, humour, and emotional authenticity. He lives in Utah and writes fiction that draws on his own experience as a transgender man to create stories that feel…

Rennie St. James is an author whose fiction blends fantasy, romance, and dark adventure in ways designed to appeal to readers who want genre entertainment with emotional depth and strong, unconventional protagonists. Detailed biographical information about St. James is not widely available — they are one of a number of authors who write primarily for…