Aliette de Bodard

{{short description|French-American speculative fiction writer}}

{{Update |date=April 2024 }}

{{Infobox writer

| image = Aliette de Bodard 2021-12-29.jpg

| imagesize =

| name = Aliette de Bodard

| caption = Aliette de Bodard in 2021

| pseudonym =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1982|11|10}}

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.{{cite web |url=http://charles-tan.blogspot.ca/2009/08/interview-aliette-de-bodard-by-marshall.html |title=Interview: Aliette de Bodard by Marshall Payne |last=Payne |first=Marshall |editor-first=Charles |editor-last=Tan |website=Bibliophile Stalker |date=2009-08-11 |access-date=2013-06-30}}

| death_date =

| death_place =

| occupation = Computer engineer, author

| nationality = American, French

| period =

| genre = Science fiction, Fantasy

| subject =

| movement =

| notableworks = "Immersion", "The Waiting Stars", The House of Shattered Wings, The Tea Master and the Detective

| awards = {{Plain list}}

{{Endplainlist}}

| magnum_opus =

| website = {{Official URL}}

| footnotes =

}}

Aliette de Bodard (born November 10, 1982) is a French-American speculative fiction writer.{{Cite web |last=locusmag |date=2021-03-15 |title=Aliette de Bodard: Where Is It Written? |url=https://locusmag.com/2021/03/aliette-de-bodard-where-is-it-written/ |access-date=2024-06-27 |website=Locus Online |language=en-US}}

Writing

De Bodard published her first short story in 2006. In 2007, she was a winner of Writers of the Future,{{cite web |url=http://www.irosf.com/q/zine/article/10596 |title=Ghosts and Demons: An Interview with Aliette de Bodard |last=Ciriello |first=Dario |date=October 2009 |website=The Internet Review of Science Fiction |access-date=2013-07-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221115342/http://www.irosf.com/q/zine/article/10596 |archive-date=2013-12-21 |url-status=dead }} and in 2009 was nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. She has been published in Interzone, Hub Magazine, Black Static, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, Asimov's, Realms of Fantasy, Apex Magazine, among others.

She won the 2012 Nebula Award{{cite web |url=http://www.locusmag.com/News/2013/05/2012-nebula-awards-winners/ |title=2012 Nebula Award Winners |website=Locus Online |date=May 18, 2013}} and Locus Award for Best Short Story for her short story "Immersion".{{cite web |url=http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/06/announcing-the-2013-locus-award-winners |title=Announcing the 2013 Locus Award Winners! |website=Tor.com |date=2013-06-29 |access-date=2013-06-30}} She also won the 2013 Nebula Award for "The Waiting Stars".{{cite web |url=http://www.locusmag.com/News/2014/05/2013-nebula-award-winners/ |title=2013 Nebula Awards Winners |website=Locus Online |date=2014-05-17 |access-date=2014-05-17}} Her short story "The Shipmaker" won the 2010 British Science Fiction Award for Best Short Fiction.{{cite web |url=http://www.locusmag.com/News/2011/04/2010bsfa/ |title=2010 BSFA Award Winners |website=Locus Online |date=2011-04-25 |access-date=2013-05-15}} Her Xuya Universe novella The Tea Master and the Detective won the 2018 Nebula Award for Best Novella and the 2019 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella, and was nominated for the 2019 Hugo Award for Best Novella.{{Cite web|url=https://nebulas.sfwa.org/award-year/2018/|title=2018 Nebula Awards|website=The Nebula Awards|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-19|last3=Fiction|first3=Nebula Awards are registered trademarks of Science|last4=America|first4=Fantasy Writers of|last5=SFWA|first5=Inc Opinions expressed on this web site are not necessarily those of}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/2019/04/2019-hugo-award-1944-retro-hugo-award-finalists/|title=2019 Hugo Award & 1944 Retro Hugo Award Finalists|last=Cheryl|date=2019-04-02|website=The Hugo Awards|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-19}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.worldfantasy.org/world-fantasy-awards%e2%84%a0-2019/|title=World Fantasy Awards 2019 {{!}} World Fantasy Convention|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-25}}

Her novelette "The Jaguar House, in Shadow" was nominated for both the Nebula{{cite web |url=http://www.sfwa.org/2011/02/2010-nebula-nominees/ |title=SFWA announces the 2010 Nebula Award Nominees |website=Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America |date=2011-02-22 |access-date=2013-05-15}} and Hugo{{cite web |url=http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/04/2011-hugo-nominations |title=2011 Hugo Finalists |first=Patrick |last=Nielsen Hayden |website=Tor.com |date=2011-04-24 |access-date=2013-05-15}} Awards. Her short story "Shipbirth" was also nominated for the Nebula.{{cite web |url=http://www.sfwa.org/2012/02/2011-nebula-awards-nominees-announced/ |title=2011 Nebula Awards Nominees Announced |website=Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America |date=2012-02-20 |access-date=2013-05-15}} Her novella On a Red Station, Drifting, released by Immersion Press in December 2012, was a finalist for the Nebula{{cite web |url=http://www.sfwa.org/2013/02/2012-nebula-awards-nominees-announced/ |title=2012 Nebula Awards Nominees Announced |website=Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America |date=2013-02-20 |access-date=2013-05-15}}{{cite web|first=Aliette|last=de Bodard|url=http://aliettedebodard.com/bibliography/novels/on-a-red-station-drifting/|title=On a Red Station, Drifting (description) |website=aliettedebodard.com |access-date=2013-05-15}} and Hugo.{{cite web |url=http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2013-hugo-awards/ |title=2013 Hugo Awards |website=The Hugo Awards |date=22 December 2012 |access-date=2013-05-15}} The science fiction work chronicles the conflict between two members of an extended Vietnamese family on a space station ruled by an AI, and is part of Bodard's Asian-dominated alternate-history series.

Bodard's short story collection Scattered Among Strange Worlds was released in July, 2012. The collection features two science fiction stories entitled "Scattered Along the River of Heaven" and "Exodus Tides".{{cite web|url=http://upcoming4.me/media-news/book-news/item/10038-aliette-de-bodard-scattered-among-strange-worlds-cover-art-and-table-of-contents |title=Aliette de Bodard – Scattered Among Strange Worlds cover art and table of contents |website=Upcoming4.me |date=2012-05-24 |access-date=2013-05-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120628045741/http://upcoming4.me/media-news/book-news/item/10038-aliette-de-bodard-scattered-among-strange-worlds-cover-art-and-table-of-contents |archive-date=2012-06-28 }} Her short story "The Dust Queen" was published in the science fiction anthology Reach for Infinity in 2014.{{cite web |title=Step into the Stars: Reach for Infinity, ed. Jonathan Strahan |url=http://www.tor.com/2014/06/12/book-review-anthology-reach-for-infinity-jonathan-strahan/ |website=Tor.com |first=Niall |last=Alexander |date=12 June 2014 |access-date=13 December 2015}}

Her novel The House of Shattered Wings, set in a devastated Paris ruled by fallen angels, was published by Gollancz/Roc in August 2015.{{cite web |url=https://www.orionbooks.co.uk/Articles/News/Gollancz%20Aquires%20House%20of%20Shattered%20Wings.page |title=Gollancz acquisition |website=Orion Publishing Group |date=2014-11-20 |access-date=2015-03-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190129010023/https://www.orionbooks.co.uk/Articles/News/Gollancz%20Aquires%20House%20of%20Shattered%20Wings.page |archive-date=2019-01-29 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://www.tor.com/blogs/2015/01/aliette-de-bodard-house-of-shattered-wings-roc-books |title=Roc Books Acquires Aliette de Bodard's The House of Shattered Wings |website=Tor.com |date=2015-01-15 |access-date=2015-03-09}} It won the BSFA Award for Best Novel of 2015. Her story "Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight" won the BSFA Award for Best Short Story of 2015, the first time a single author has ever won both fiction categories in the same year.{{cite web |url=http://file770.com/?p=28194 |title=2015 BSFA Awards |first=Mike |last=Glyer |website=file770.com |date=2016-03-26| access-date=2016-03-30}}

In 2024, she published Navigational Entanglements which has been included in the New Scientist's list of 'best new science fiction books of July 2024'.{{Cite web |last=Flood |first=Alison |date=1 July 2024 |title=The best new science fiction books of July 2024 |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/2437805-the-best-new-science-fiction-books-of-july-2024/ |url-status=live |archive-url= |access-date=11 February 2025 |website=New Scientist}}

Themes

Many of her stories are set in alternate history worlds where Aztec or pre-communist Vietnamese cultures are dominant.{{cite web |url=http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/de_bodard_interview/ |title=Disrupting the World in Large Ways: A Conversation with Aliette de Bodard |last=Jones |first=Jeremy L. C. |work=Clarkesworld Magazine |date=December 2011 |access-date=2013-07-12}} In a 2018 interview with L'épaule d'Orion, she stated that "taste is largely underutilised sensorily in science-fiction... future worlds in SF have a tendency to be sanitised."{{cite web|date=23 October 2018|title=Une interview : Aliette de Bodard – L'univers de Xuya|url=https://lepauledorion.com/2018/10/25/une-interview-aliette-de-bodard/|author-last=|author-first=|access-date=26 June 2022|work=L'épaule d'Orion}} In a 2021 interview with Locus, she stated that she tried to write "parent-child relationships, and very often a mother-daughter relationship, because that's a thing you don't often see, aside from the controlling mother and the estranged mother. You don't even often see characters with dead mothers – the mothers tend to just fade out."{{cite web|date=15 March 2021|title=Aliette de Bodard: Where Is It Written?|url=https://locusmag.com/2021/03/aliette-de-bodard-where-is-it-written/|author-last=Myman|author-first=Francesca|access-date=26 June 2022|work=Locus}}

Personal life

De Bodard is of French and Vietnamese descent, born in the US, and grew up in Paris. French is her first language but she writes in English.{{cite web |url=http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2009/11/interview_aliette_de_bodard/ |title=INTERVIEW: Aliette de Bodard |last=Tan |first=Charles |website=SF Signal |date=2009-11-03 |access-date=2013-06-30 |archive-date=2013-12-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215022636/http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2009/11/interview_aliette_de_bodard/ |url-status=dead }} A graduate of École Polytechnique,{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/28/aliette-de-bodard-picks-up-two-sci-fi-awards-for-startlingly-original-fiction |title=Aliette de Bodard picks up two sci-fi awards for 'startlingly original fiction' |first=David |last=Barnett |work=The Guardian |date=28 March 2016 |access-date=9 May 2017}} she works as a software engineer ({{as of|2024|lc=y}} in railway signalling{{Cite web |last=de Bodard |first=Aliette |date=August 13, 2024 |title=I'm a railway signalling engineer |url=https://bsky.app/profile/aliettedb.bsky.social/post/3kzmsxblj3x2w |website=Bluesky}}), and is a member of the Written in Blood writers group. She is bisexual.{{cite web |url=https://bsky.app/profile/aliettedb.bsky.social/post/3l7je52wypz2t |title=And er, yes, sorry, I'm bi too #bi |first=Aliette |last=de Bodard |website=BlueSky |date=October 27, 2024 |access-date=October 28, 2024 }}

Awards

{{More citations needed section |date=February 2025 }}

class="wikitable sortable"

!Year{{cite web |title=Award Bibliography: Aliette de Bodard |url=https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/eaw.cgi?108274 |website=Internet Speculative Fiction Database |access-date=February 14, 2025 |ref=ISFDB}}

! Title

! Award

! Category

! Result

! {{Abbr|Ref|Reference}}

2008

| "Butterfly, Falling at Dawn"

| BSFA Award

| Short Fiction

| {{nom}}

| {{cite news |url=http://semiprozine.org/2009/05/29/2008-bsfa-awar/ |title=2008 BSFA Award and Semiprozines |work=Semiprozine.org |date=May 29, 2009 |access-date=February 14, 2025 }}

2009

| —

| colspan="2" | John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

| {{nom|place=2nd place}}

|

2010

| "The Shipmaker"

| BSFA Award

| Short Fiction

| {{won}}

|

rowspan="2" | 2011

| rowspan="2" | "The Jaguar House, in Shadow"

| Hugo Award

| Novelette

| {{nom|place=5th place}}

|

Nebula Award

| Short Story

| {{nom}}

|

rowspan="2" | 2012

| {{lang|fr|D'obsidienne et de sang}}
(Servant of the Underworld)

| {{lang|fr|Grand prix de l'Imaginaire}}

| {{lang|fr|Roman étranger}}
('Foreign novel')

| {{nom}}

| {{cite web |url=https://gpi.noosfere.org/gpi-2012/ |title=Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2012 |publisher=Grand prix de l'Imaginaire |date=May 26, 2012 |access-date=February 14, 2025 |language=fr }}

"Shipbirth"

| Nebula Award

| Short Story

| {{nom}}

|

rowspan="11" | 2013

| "Heaven Under Earth"

| colspan="2" | James Tiptree Jr. Award

| {{CFinalist|Honor List}}

| {{cite web |url=https://otherwiseaward.org/award/2013-otherwise-award#honor-list |title=2013 Otherwise Award |publisher=Otherwise Award |date=May 23, 2015 |access-date=February 14, 2025 }}

rowspan="5" | "Immersion"

| Locus Award

| Short Story

| {{won}}

|

Nebula Award

| Short Story

| {{won}}

|

Hugo Award

| Short Story

| {{nom|2nd place}}

|

BSFA Award

| Short Fiction

| {{nom}}

|

colspan="2" | Theodore Sturgeon Award

| {{nom}}

|

rowspan="3" | On a Red Station, Drifting

| Hugo Award

| Novella

| {{nom|4th place}}

|

Locus Award

| Novella

| {{nom|5th place}}

|

Nebula Award

| Novella

| {{nom}}

|

rowspan="2" | "Scattered Along the River of Heaven"

| Locus Award

| Short Story

| {{nom|10th place}}

|

colspan="2" | Theodore Sturgeon Award

| {{nom}}

|

rowspan="4" | 2014

| "{{lang|es|Separados por las aguas del Río Celeste}}"
("Scattered Along the River of Heaven")

| {{lang|es|Premio Ignotus}}

| {{lang|es|Mejor cuento extranjero}}
('Best Foreign Story')

| {{nom|4th place}}

|

rowspan="3" | "The Waiting Stars"

| Hugo Award

| Novelette

| {{nom|3rd place}}

|

Nebula Award

| Novelette

| {{won}}

|

Locus Award

| Novelette

| {{nom|4th place}}

|

rowspan="6" | 2015

| "Memorials"

| Locus Award

| Novelette

| {{nom|5th place}}

|

"The Breath of War"

| Nebula Award

| Short Story

| {{nom}}

|

"The Dust Queen"

| Locus Award

| Short Story

| {{nom|4th place}}

|

{{lang|es|El ciclo de Xuya}}
(The Xuya Cycle)

| rowspan="2" | {{lang|es|Premio Ignotus}}

| {{lang|es|Mejor antología}}
('Best Collected Work')

| {{nom|5th place}}

|

{{lang|es|En una estación roja, a la deriva}}
(On a Red Station, Drifting)

| {{lang|es|Mejor cuento extranjero}}
('Best Foreign Story')

| {{nom|5th place}}

|

"{{lang|fr|Éparpillés le long des rivières du ciel}}"
("Scattered Along the River of Heaven")

| {{lang|fr|Grand prix de l'Imaginaire}}

| {{lang|fr|Nouvelle étrangère}}
('Foreign novella')

| {{Longlisted}}

| {{cite web |url=https://gpi.noosfere.org/gpi-2015/ |title=Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2015 |publisher=Grand prix de l'Imaginaire |date=May 24, 2012 |access-date=February 14, 2025 |language=fr }}

rowspan="6" | 2016

| rowspan="2" | The House of Shattered Wings

| BSFA Award

| Novel

| {{won}}

|

Locus Award

| Fantasy Novel

| {{nom|4th place}}

|

The Citadel of Weeping Pearls

| Locus Award

| Novella

| {{nom|4th place}}

|

rowspan="3" | "Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight"

| BSFA Award

| Short Fiction

| {{won}}

|

Locus Award

| Short Story

| {{nom|4th place}}

|

colspan="2" | Eugie Award

| {{nom}}

|

rowspan="4" | 2017

| rowspan="2" | "A Salvaging of Ghosts"

| Locus Award

| Short Story

| {{nom|5th place}}

|

colspan="2" | WSFA Small Press Award

| {{nom}}

|

"Pearl"

| Locus Award

| Novelette

| {{nom|2nd place}}

|

"The Citadel of Weeping Pearls"

| Canopus Award

| Previously Published Short Fiction

| {{nom}}

| {{cite news |url=https://locusmag.com/2017/04/2016-2017-canopus-awards-finalists/ |title=2016–2017 Canopus Awards Finalists |work=Locus |date=April 12, 2017 |access-date=February 14, 2025 }}

rowspan="5" | 2018

| "{{lang|es|Tres tazas de aflicción a la luz de las estrellas}}"
("Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight")

| {{lang|es|Premio Ignotus}}

| {{lang|es|Mejor cuento extranjero}}
('Best Foreign Story')

| {{won}}

| {{cite news |url=https://scifiportal.eu/2018-ignotus-awards-winners-spain/ |title=2018 Ignotus Awards Winners (Spain) |publisher=Europa SF |date=November 27, 2018 |access-date=February 14, 2025 }}

rowspan="2" | "Children of Thorns, Children of Water"

| Locus Award

| Novelette

| {{nom|2th place}}

|

Hugo Award

| Novelette

| {{nom|5th place}}

|

In the Vanishers' Palace

| Lambda Literary Awards

| Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror

| {{nom}}

|

The House of Binding Thorns

| Locus Award

| Fantasy Novel

| {{nom|4th place}}

|

rowspan="6" | 2019

| rowspan="5" | The Tea Master and the Detective

| British Fantasy Award

| Novella

| {{won}}

|

Nebula Award

| Novella

| {{won}}

|

Hugo Award

| Novella

| {{nom|2nd place}}

|

Locus Award

| Novella

| {{nom|2nd place}}

|

World Fantasy Award

| Novella

| {{nom}}

|

On Motherhood and Erasure

| BSFA Award

| Non-Fiction

| {{won}}

|

rowspan="3" | 2020

| rowspan="2" | Of Wars, and Memories, and Starlight

| Locus Award

| Collection

| {{nom|3rd place}}

|

British Fantasy Award

| Collection

| {{nom}}

|

{{lang|ja|形見}} ({{lang|ja-Latn|Katami}}, "Memorials")

| Seiun Award

| Best Translated Short Story

| {{nom}}

| {{cite news |url=https://locusmag.com/2020/08/2020-seiun-awards-winners/ |title=2020 Seiun Awards Winners |work=Locus |date=August 24, 2020 |access-date=February 14, 2025 }}

rowspan="6" | 2021

| Seven of Infinities

| Locus Award

| Novella

| {{nom|7th place}}

|

Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders

| Locus Award

| Novella

| {{nom|10th place}}

|

rowspan="3" | The Inaccessibility of Heaven

| Ignyte Award

| Short Fiction

| {{won}}

|

Hugo Award

| Novelette

| {{nom}}

|

Locus Award

| Novelette

| {{nom|3rd place}}

|

"In the Lands of the Spill"

| Locus Award

| Short Story

| {{nom|9th place}}

|

rowspan="6" | 2022

| rowspan="5" | Fireheart Tiger

| BSFA Award

| Short Fiction

| {{won}}

| {{cite news |url=https://locusmag.com/2022/04/2021-bsfa-awards-winners/ |title=2011 BSFA Awards Winners |work=Locus |date=April 18, 2022 |access-date=February 14, 2025 }}

Locus Award

| Novella

| {{nom|3rd place}}

| {{cite news |url=https://locusmag.com/2022/06/2022-locus-awards-winners/ |title=2022 Locus Awards Winners |work=Locus |date=June 25, 2022 |access-date=February 14, 2025 }}

Hugo Award

| Novella

| {{nom|6th place}}

| {{cite web |url=https://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2022-hugo-awards/ |title=2022 Hugo Awards |publisher=Hugo Awards |date=September 4, 2022 |access-date=February 14, 2025 }}

Nebula Award

| Novella

| {{nom}}

| {{cite news |url=https://locusmag.com/2022/05/2021-nebula-awards-winners/ |title=2021 Nebula Awards Winners |work=Locus |date=May 21, 2022 |access-date=February 14, 2025 }}

Ignyte Award

| Novella

| {{nom}}

| {{cite news |url=https://locusmag.com/2022/09/2022-ignyte-awards-winners/ |title=2022 Ignyte Awards Winners |work=Locus |date=September 19, 2022 |access-date=February 14, 2025 }}

"Mulberry and Owl"

| Locus Award

| Novelette

| {{nom|3rd place}}

|

rowspan="5" | 2023

| rowspan="3" | The Red Scholar's Wake

| colspan="2" | Arthur C. Clarke Award

| {{nom}}

| {{cite web |url=https://zenoagency.com/news/aliette-de-bodards-the-red-scholars-wake-is-a-clarke-award-finalist/ |title=Aliette de Bodard’s The Red Scholar's Wake is a Clarke Award Finalist! |publisher=Zeno Literary Agency |date=June 9, 2023 |access-date=February 14, 2025 }}

BSFA Award

| Novel

| {{nom}}

| {{cite news |url=https://locusmag.com/2023/04/2022-bsfa-awards-winners/ |title=2022 BSFA Award Winners |work=Locus |date=April 10, 2023 |access-date=February 14, 2024 }}

Locus Award

| SF Novel

| {{nom|4th place}}

| {{cite news |url=https://locusmag.com/2023/06/2023-locus-awards-winners/ |title=2023 Locus Award Winners |work=Locus |date=June 24, 2023 |access-date=February 14, 2025 }}

rowspan="2" | Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances

| BSFA Award

| Short Fiction

| {{won}}

|

Locus Award

| Novella

| {{nom|5th place}}

|

rowspan="4" | 2024

| A Fire Born of Exile

| Locus Award

| Novel

| {{nom|7th place (tied)}}

| {{cite news |url=https://locusmag.com/2024/06/2024-locus-awards-winners/ |title=2024 Locus Award Winners |work=Locus |date=June 22, 2024 |access-date=February 14, 2025 }}

The Universe of Xuya

| Hugo Award

| Series

| {{nom|5th place}}

| {{Cite web |url=https://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2024-hugo-awards/ |title=2024 Hugo Awards |publisher=Hugo Awards |date=August 11, 2024 |access-date=February 14, 2025 }}

rowspan="2" | "The Mausoleum's Children"

| Hugo Award

| Short Story

| {{nom|3rd place}}

|

Locus Award

| Short Story

| {{nom|7th place}}

|

2025

|Navigational Entanglements

|Hugo Award

|Novella

|{{pending}}

|{{cite web |url=https://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2025-hugo-awards/|title=2025 Hugo Awards|date=April 10, 2025 |publisher=www.thehugoawards.org |access-date=April 10, 2025}}

Bibliography

{{Main|Aliette de Bodard bibliography}}

References

{{Reflist}}