N. K. Jemisin Explained

N. K. Jemisin
Birth Name:	Nora Keita Jemisin
Birth Date:	19 September 1972
Birth Place:	Iowa City, Iowa, U.S.
Education:	Tulane University (BS) University of Maryland, College Park (MEd)
Language:	English

Nora Keita Jemisin^[1] (born September 19, 1972) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. Her fiction includes a wide range of themes, notably cultural conflict and oppression.^{[2] [3]} Her debut novel, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and the subsequent books in her Inheritance Trilogy received critical acclaim. She has won several awards for her work, including the Locus Award. The three books of her Broken Earth series made her the first author to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel in three consecutive years, as well as the first to win for all three novels in a trilogy.^[4] She won a fourth Hugo Award, for Best Novelette, in 2020 for Emergency Skin.^[5] Jemisin was a recipient of the MacArthur Fellows Program Genius Grant in 2020.^[6]

Early life

Jemisin was born in Iowa City, Iowa, while her parents Noah Jemisin and Janice Jemisin were completing masters programs at the University of Iowa.^[7] She grew up in New York City and Mobile, Alabama. Jemisin attended Tulane University from 1990 to 1994, where she received a B.S. in psychology. She went on to study counseling and earn her Master of Education from the University of Maryland. She lived in Massachusetts for ten years and then moved to New York City.^[8] She worked as a counseling psychologist and career counselor before writing full-time.

Career

A graduate of the 2002 Viable Paradise writing workshop,^{[9] [10]} Jemisin has published short stories and novels. She was a member of the Boston-area writing group BRAWLers, and as of 2010 was a member of Altered Fluid, a speculative fiction critique group.^[11] In 2009 and 2010, Jemisin's short story "Non-Zero Probabilities" was a finalist for the Nebula and Hugo Best Short Story Awards.^[12]

Jemisin's debut novel, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, the first volume in her Inheritance Trilogy, was published in 2010. It was nominated for the 2010 Nebula Award and short-listed for the James Tiptree Jr. Award (now called the Otherwise Award).^{[13] [14]} In 2011, it was nominated for the Hugo Award, World Fantasy Award,^[15] and Locus Award for Best First Novel, winning the latter.^[16] It was followed by two further novels in the same trilogy – The Broken Kingdoms (2010) and The Kingdom of Gods (2011).

During her delivery of the Guest of Honour speech at the 2013 Continuum in Australia, Jemisin pointed out that 10% of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) membership voted for alt-right writer Theodore Beale, known as Vox Day, in his bid for the SFWA presidential position, stating that silence about Beale's views was the same as enabling them.^[17] Beale's response to Jemisin was condemned as "an appallingly racist screed".^[18] A link to his comments was tweeted on the SFWA Authors Twitter feed, and Beale was subsequently expelled from the organization after a unanimous vote by the SFWA Board.^[19]

Jemisin was a co-Guest of Honor of the 2014 WisCon science fiction convention in Madison, Wisconsin.^[20] At that time, GQ described her as having "a day job as a counseling psychologist."^[21] She was the Author Guest of Honor at Arisia 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts.^[22] In January 2016, Jemisin started writing "Otherworldly", a bimonthly column for The New York Times.^[23] In May 2016, Jemisin mounted a Patreon campaign which raised sufficient funding to allow her to quit her job as a counseling psychologist and focus full-time on her writing.^[24]

Jemisin's novel The Fifth Season was published in 2015, the first of the Broken Earth trilogy. The Fifth Season won the Hugo Award for Best Novel, making Jemisin the first African-American writer to win a Hugo award in that category.^[25] The sequels in the trilogy, The Obelisk Gate and The Stone Sky, won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2017^[26] and 2018,^[27] respectively, making Jemisin the first author to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel in three consecutive years, as well as the first to win for all three novels in a trilogy. In 2017, Bustle called Jemisin "the sci-fi writer every woman needs to be reading".^[28]

With Mac Walters, Jemisin co-authored the 2017 book Mass Effect: Andromeda Initiation, the second in a book series based on the video game . Jemisin published a short story collection, How Long 'til Black Future Month? in November 2018.^[29] It contains stories written from 2004 to 2017 and four new works. Far Sector, a twelve-issue limited series comic written by Jemisin with art by Jamal Campbell, began publication in 2019. It was nominated for the 2021 Eisner Award for Best Limited Series.^[30]

Jemisin's urban fantasy novel The City We Became was published in March 2020. In October 2020, Jemisin was announced as a recipient of the MacArthur Fellows Program Genius Grant. In June 2021, Sony's TriStar Pictures won the rights to adapt The Broken Earth trilogy in a seven-figure deal with Jemisin adapting the novels for the screen herself.^[31] In 2021, she was included in the Time 100, Times annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.^[32] The World We Make, a sequel to Jemisin's 2020 novel, was released in November 2022.

Personal life

Jemisin lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.^[33] She is first cousin once removed to stand-up comic and television host W. Kamau Bell.^{[34] [35]}

Awards and honors

Won

Nominated

Novels

In 2022, Kirkus Reviews named The World We Make one of the best science fiction and fantasy books of the year.^[36]

Book / Awards^[37]	Hugo	Locus		World Fantasy
scope=row	The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (2010)
scope=row	The Kingdom of Gods (2011)	–			–
scope=row	The Killing Moon (2012)	–
scope=row	The Fifth Season (2015)					^[38]
scope=row	The Obelisk Gate (2016)					^[39]
scope=row	The Stone Sky (2017)				–
scope=row	The City We Became (2020)				–

Jemisin is the first author to win three successive Hugo Awards for Best Novel.^[40] She has also received the following accolades:

• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (2010) won the Sense of Gender Award, and was nominated for the Crawford Award,^[41] Gemmell Award for Best Fantasy Newcomer, Prix Imaginales for Best Foreign Novel and Tiptree Award for Best Novel.^[37]
• The Broken Kingdoms (2010) and The Shadowed Sun (2012) both won the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award for Best Fantasy Novel.^{[42] [43]}
• The City We Became (2020) won the BSFA Award for Best Novel.^[44]

Short fiction

Work / Awards	Hugo	Locus
scope=row	Non-Zero Probabilities (2009)		–
scope=row	The City Born Great (2016)			–
scope=row	How Long 'til Black Future Month? (2018)	–		–
scope=row	Emergency Skin (2019)			–

• The short story "Cloud Dragon Skies" (2005) was shortlisted for the Carl Brandon Society's Parallax Award.^[37]
• The collection How Long 'til Black Future Month? (2018) won the American Library Association's Alex Award,^[45] and was nominated for the World Fantasy Award—Collection.^[37]

Selected bibliography

Novels

Inheritance Trilogy

See main article: The Inheritance Trilogy (Jemisin series).

• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (2010)
• The Broken Kingdoms (2010)
• The Kingdom of Gods (2011)^[46]

A novella entitled The Awakened Kingdom set as a sequel to the Inheritance Trilogy was released along with an omnibus of the trilogy on December 9, 2014.^[47]

A "triptych" entitled Shades in Shadow was released on July 28, 2015. It contained three short stories, including a prequel to the trilogy.^[48]

Dreamblood Duology

• The Killing Moon (2012)^[49]
• The Shadowed Sun (2012)^[50]

Broken Earth series

• The Fifth Season (2015)
• The Obelisk Gate (2016)
• The Stone Sky (2017)

Mass Effect: Andromeda

• (with Mac Walters, 2017)^[51]

Great Cities Series

• The City We Became (2020)
• The World We Make (2022)

The short story "The City Born Great", released in 2016, is a precursor to the series and was adapted to serve as the prologue for The City We Became.

Short stories

• "L'Alchimista", published in Scattered, Covered, Smothered, Two Cranes Press, 2004. Honorable Mention in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, 18th collection. Also available as an Escape Pod episode.^[52]
• "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 & Apex Magazine, 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.
• "Walking Awake", Lightspeed, 2014.
• "Stone Hunger", Clarkesworld Magazine, 2014.
• "Sunshine Ninety-Nine", Popular Science, 2015.
• "The City Born Great", published as a Tor.com exclusive available for free online,^[53] 2016.
• "Red Dirt Witch", Fantasy Magazine: PoC Destroy Fantasy, 2016.
• "The Evaluators", Wired, 2016.
• "Henosis", Uncanny Magazine, 2017.
• "Give Me Cornbread or Give Me Death", A People's Future of the United States, 2017.
• "The Storyteller's Replacement", How Long til Black Future Month, 2018.
• "The Elevator Dancer", How Long til Black Future Month, 2018.
• "Cuisine des Mémoires", How Long til Black Future Month, 2018.
• "Emergency Skin", Amazon Original Stories:Forward, 2019. Winner of Hugo Award for best novelette.^[54]
• "The Ones Who Stay and Fight", Lightspeed Magazine, 2020.
• "Reckless Eyeballing", published in Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror, Random House, 2023.

Short story collections

• How Long 'til Black Future Month? (November 2018)

Nonfiction

• Geek Wisdom: The Sacred Teachings of Nerd Culture (co-written with Stephen H. Segal, Genevieve Valentine, Zaki Hasan, and Eric San Juan, 2011)^[55]

Comics

• Far Sector #1-12 (with Jamal Campbell, DC Comics, 2019) - nominated for the 2021 Eisner Award for Best Limited Series^[56]

See also

• Afrofuturism

External links

• • Odyssey Workshop interview

Notes and References

1. Web site: Shapiro. Lila. 2018-11-29. For Reigning Fantasy Queen N.K. Jemisin, There's No Escape From Reality. 2020-10-07. Vulture. en-us.
2. Web site: N.K. Jemisin on THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS. . August 22, 2012. Orbit Blog. Orbit Books. Blog. August 28, 2018.
3. News: Book Review: 'The Fifth Season,' by N. K. Jemisin. Novik. Naomi. Naomi Novik. August 12, 2015. The New York Times. August 31, 2018.
4. News: El-Mohtar. Amal. 2020-03-24. When a Sinister Enemy Attacks New York, the City Fights Back. en-US. The New York Times. 2020-05-22. 0362-4331.
5. Web site: Hugo Awards . 2022-06-10 . Twitter . en.
6. Web site: N. K. Jemisin. MacArthur Foundation. October 6, 2020.
7. Khatchadourian . Raffi . Raffi Khatchadourian . N. K. Jemisin's Dream Worlds . . 2020-01-27.
8. Web site: N.K. Jemisin: Rites of Passage. Locus. She studied psychology at Tulane in New Orleans, and went to grad school to study counseling at the University of Maryland-College Park. . August 18, 2010.
9. Web site: Locus. N.K. Jemisin: Rites of Passage. August 18, 2010. September 7, 2016.
10. Web site: 2016-02-15 . Interview: Guest lecturer N.K. Jemisin (Part One of Two) . 2024-08-09 . Odyssey Writing Workshop Blog . en.
11. Web site: Clarkesworld Magazine. Even the Best Stories Have Flaws: Inside Altered Fluid. Jones, Jeremy L. C.. 47. August 2010.
12. Jemisin. N. K.. September 2009. Non-Zero Probabilities. Clarkesworld Magazine. 36. August 16, 2017.
13. Web site: . . 2010 Award Winners & Nominees. August 28, 2018. Worlds Without End. Tres Barbas, LLC.
14. Web site: March 21, 2011 . 2010 Otherwise Award . August 9, 2024 . Otherwise Award . James Tiptree Jr. Literary Council . en-US.
15. Web site: July 28, 2011. World Fantasy Nominees and Lifetime Achievement Winners. Locus.
16. Web site: June 25, 2011. Locus Awards 2011 Winners. Locus.
17. Web site: Khanna . Rajan . November 26, 2013 . Controversies Inside the World of Science Fiction and Fantasy . September 8, 2016 . LitReactor.
18. Web site: El-Mohtar . Amal . Amal El-Mohtar . June 13, 2013 . Calling for the Expulsion of Theodore Beale from SFWA . https://web.archive.org/web/20210206090312/https://amalelmohtar.com/2013/06/13/calling-for-the-expulsion-of-theodore-beale-from-sfwa/ . February 6, 2021 . August 9, 2024.
19. Web site: SFWA Board Votes to Expel Beale. August 14, 2013. Locus.
20. May 26, 2013 . Stone . Elizabeth . Announcing WisCon 38's Guests of Honor: Hiromi Goto and N.K. Jemisin . A Momentary Taste of WisCon . 2 . 4.
21. Web site: N.K. Jemisin Is Trying to Keep the World From Ending. Rivera. Joshua. GQ. November 28, 2018 . en. 2020-03-27. But there were those in the speculative fiction community who still didn't want her, or anyone like her—a black woman born in Iowa City and raised between Mobile, Alabama and Brooklyn, New York with a day job as a counseling psychologist— to have a seat at the same table as them..
22. Web site: Guest of Honor Bios. Arisia 2015.
23. News: Zutter . Natalie . January 4, 2016 . N.K. Jemisin Launches SFF Column at The New York Times Book Review . August 9, 2024 . Tor.com.
24. WIRED Book Club: Fantasy Writer N.K. Jemisin on the Weird Dreams That Fuel Her Stories. Kehe, Jason. June 7, 2016. Wired. September 7, 2016.
25. News: Alter . Alexandra . August 24, 2016 . N. K. Jemisin on Diversity in Science Fiction and Inspiration From Dreams . August 9, 2024 . . en-US . 0362-4331.
26. Web site: December 31, 2016 . 2017 Hugo Awards . August 11, 2017 . The Hugo Award.
27. Web site: August 19, 2018 . 2018 Hugo Awards . The Hugo Award.
28. News: Wilson. Kristian. The Sci-Fi Writer Every Woman Needs To Be Reading Has 3 New Books Coming. August 12, 2017. Bustle. January 10, 2017. en.
29. Web site: El-Mohtar . Amal . November 29, 2018 . Gorgeous 'Black Future Month' Tracks A Writer's Development . August 9, 2024 . . en.
30. Web site: June 9, 2021 . DC Garners Seventeen 2021 Eisner Award Nominations . June 10, 2021 . DC Comics.
31. Web site: Fleming . Mike Jr . N.K. Jemisin Book Series 'The Broken Earth' Lands At Sony's TriStar In 7-Figure Deal; Author To Adapt . . . 2021-06-04.
32. Web site: Specker . Lawrence . Time's '100 most influential' list includes trio with Alabama ties . . November 14, 2021 . en . September 15, 2021.
33. Web site: Nebula Awards 2010 Interview: N.K. Jemisin. Payne. Marshall. SFWA. June 28, 2011. January 14, 2016.
34. Book: Bell, W. Kamau . The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell . . 2017 . 978-1-101-98587-8 . New York . 24, 28.
35. News: Michael . Schaub . Women and writers of color win big at Hugo Awards and the Puppies are even sadder . August 22, 2016 . Los Angeles Times.
36. Web site: Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2022 . 2022-11-27 . Kirkus Reviews . en.
37. Web site: N. K. Jemisin Awards. Science Fiction Awards Database. Locus Science Fiction Foundation. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20210505210122/http://www.sfadb.com/N_K_Jemisin . May 5, 2021.
38. Web site: 2016 Hugo Awards. . The Hugo Awards. December 29, 2015 . October 13, 2016.
39. News: SFWA Announces 2016 Nebula, Norton, and Bradbury Award Nominees!. February 20, 2017. The Nebula Awards. March 6, 2017. en-US.
40. Encyclopedia: Jemisin, N K. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. June 28, 2021. Gollancz. 2. Clute. John. John Clute. Langford. David. David Langford. Nicholls. Peter (emeritus). Peter Nicholls (writer). Sleight. Graham (managing). Graham Sleight. 3rd. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20210114011233/http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/jemisin_n_k . January 14, 2021.
41. Web site: William L. Crawford – IAFA Fantasy Award 2011 . September 7, 2016 . . Locus Science Fiction Foundation.
42. Web site: 2011-06-03 . Winners of 2010 Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Awards . 2024-08-09 . Locus . en-US.
43. Web site: Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award Fantasy Novel . 2024-08-09 . LibraryThing . en.
44. The BSFA Awards for works published in 2020 . 2021-04-04 . Video . 2024-08-09 . YouTube.
45. Web site: American Library Association announces 2019 youth media award winners . January 28, 2019 . . March 7, 2019.
46. Web site: The Inheritance Trilogy . Nkjemisin.com.
47. Web site: So, about that Seekrit Project I've been working on…. Nkjemisin.com. April 30, 2014.
48. Web site: Now it can be told!. Nkjemisin.com. June 25, 2015.
49. Web site: Das . Indrapramit . May 2, 2012 . In Dreams: N.K. Jemisin's The Killing Moon . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120516003219/http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2012/05/in-dreams-n-k-jemisins-the-killing-moon/ . May 16, 2012 . 2024-08-09 . Slant Magazine.
50. Web site: White . N. E. . August 27, 2013 . The Shadowed Sun by N. K. Jemisin . 2020-10-08 . SFFWorld . en-US.
51. Web site: Bourke . Liz . November 30, 2017 . Space Espionage — Mass Effect: Initiation by N.K. Jemisin and Mac Walters . May 4, 2020 . Tor.com .
52. Web site: 2006-01-25. Escape Pod 38: L'Alchimista. 2020-10-19. Escape Pod. en-US.
53. Web site: May 12, 2020 . The City Born Great . Reactor.
54. Web site: 2020-08-01 . 2020 Hugo, Lodestar, and Astounding Awards Winners . 2020-08-01 . Locus . en-US.
55. Book: Geek Wisdom: The Sacred Teachings of Nerd Culture. Stephen H.. Segal. Stephen H. Segal. N. K.. Jemisin. Genevieve. Valentine. Genevieve Valentine. Eric. San Juan. Zaki. Hasan. 2011. Quirk Books. 9781594745270. registration.
56. Web site: DC Garners Seventeen 2021 Eisner Award Nominations. June 10, 2021. DC Comics.