Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal is an American author, translator, art director, and puppeteer. As an author, she is a four-time Hugo Award winner, a Nebula Award and Locus Award winner, and served as the president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America from 2019-2021. She has worked on puppetry for shows including Jim Henson Productions and the children's show LazyTown.

Early life

Mary Robinette Harrison was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. She was named after both of her grandmothers, and describes her given name, "Mary Robinette," as a double first name. She attended William G. Enloe High School, and studied at East Carolina University. She graduated with a degree in Art Education with a minor in theater and began work as a professional puppeteer in 1989.

Career

Puppetry and art direction

Kowal has performed for the Center for Puppetry Arts, Jim Henson Productions; and her own production company, Other Hand Productions. She also worked in Iceland on the children's television show LazyTown for two seasons. She was accepted as a participant in a Sesame Puppetry Workshop.
Kowal served as art director for Shimmer Magazine and in 2010 was named art director for Weird Tales.

Literary work

In 2008, Kowal won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.
Kowal's work as an author includes "For Solo Cello, op. 12", which made the preliminary ballot for the 2007 Nebula Awards. Her fiction has also appeared in Talebones Magazine, Strange Horizons, and Apex Digest, among other venues. Her debut novel Shades of Milk and Honey was nominated for the 2010 Nebula Award for Best Novel. Two of her short fiction works have been nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story: "Evil Robot Monkey" in 2009 and "For Want of a Nail", which won the award in 2011. Her novelette "The Lady Astronaut of Mars" won the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Novelette. The Calculating Stars, the first novel in her Lady Astronaut series, won the 2019 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 2018 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 2018 Sidewise Award for Alternate History.
Kowal translated the 2021 novel The Night Guest, by Hildur Knútsdóttir, from Icelandic into English, which was published in 2024. Kowal studied Icelandic while living in Reykjavík and working for the show LazyTown. It is Kowal's first work of translation.
Kowal served as secretary of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America for two years. She was elected to the position of SFWA Vice President in 2010, and was elected SFWA President in 2019. In July 2018, after criticism that many authors who were Hugo award finalists at the August 2018 World Science Fiction Convention had not been selected to participate on that year's panels, Kowal took over as programming chair. She also served as chair of the DisCon III the 2021 Worldcon after the original chairs resigned.

Audio work

After appearing several times as a guest on the podcast Writing Excuses, Kowal became a full-time cast member at the start of the sixth season in 2011.
Kowal is a voice actor and has recorded audiobooks for authors including John Scalzi, Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow and Kage Baker.

Awards and nominations

Novels

Ghost Talkers, Tor Books, 2016,
The Spare Man, Tor Books, 2022
Apprehension, Saga Doubles, 2025

;Glamourist Histories series

Shades of Milk and Honey. Tor Books, 2010,
Glamour in Glass, Tor Books, 2012,
Without a Summer, Tor Books, 2013,
Valour and Vanity, Tor Books, 2014,
Of Noble Family, Tor Books, 2015,

;Lady Astronaut Universe

The Calculating Stars, Tor Books, 2018,
The Fated Sky, Tor Books, 2018,
The Relentless Moon, Tor Books, 2020,
The Martian Contingency, Tor Books, 2025,
Silent Spaces, Kickstarter, projected publishing date July 2025
Short fiction

;Collections

Scenting the Dark and Other Stories, Subterranean Press, 2009,
Word Puppets, Prime Books, 2015,

;Stories

Title	Year	First published	Notes
"Kiss Me Twice"	2011	Asimov's Science Fiction	Finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Novella
"Forest of Memory"	2014	Tor.com	Novella
"A Fire in the Heavens"	2014	Shadows Beneath	Novelette
"Like Native Things"	2015		Novelette
"The Worshipful Society of Glovers"	2017		Novelette

"Just Right", The First Line, 2004
"Rampion", The First Line, 2004
"The Shocking Affair of the Dutch Steamship Friesland", The First Line, 2004
"Portrait of Ari", Strange Horizons, 2006
"Bound Man", Twenty Epics, 2006
"Cerbo in Vitra ujo", Apex Digest, 2006
"Locked In", Apex Digest, 2006
"This Little Pig", Cicada, 2007
"For Solo Cello, op. 12", Cosmos, 2007
"Horizontal Rain", Apex Online, 2007
"Death Comes But Twice", Talebones, 2007
"Some Other Day", All Possible Worlds, 2007
"Tomorrow and Tomorrow", Gratia Placenti, 2007
"Suspension and Disbelief", Doctor Who: Short Trips: Destination Prague, 2007
"Clockwork Chickadee", Clarkesworld Magazine, 2008
"Scenting the Dark", Apex Online, 2008
"Waiting for Rain", Subterranean Magazine, 2008
"Chrysalis", Aoife's Kiss, 2008
"Evil Robot Monkey", The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Vol. 2, 2008
"At the Edge of Dying", Clockwork Phoenix 2: More Tales of Beauty and Strangeness, 2009
"Body Language", InterGalactic Medicine Show, 2009
"The Consciousness Problem", Asimov's Science Fiction, 2009
"First Flight", Tor.com, 2009
"Ginger Stuyvesant and the Case of the Haunted Nursery", Talebones, 2009
"Jaiden's Weaver", Diamonds in the Sky: An Astronomical Anthology, 2009
"Prayer at Dark River", Innsmouth Free Press, 2009
"Ring Road", Dark Faith Anthology, 2010
"The Bride Replete", Apex Online, 2010
"Beyond the Garden Close", Apex Online, 2010
"Typewriter Triptych", Sharable.net, 2010
"For Want of a Nail", Asimov's Science Fiction, 2010
"Salt of the Earth", Redstone Science Fiction, 2010
"American Changeling", Daily Science Fiction, 2010
"Changement d'itinéraire ", Légendes, 2010
"Birthright", 2020 Visions, 2010
"Water to Wine", METAtropolis: Cascadia, 2010
"Weaving Dreams", Apex, 2012
"The White Phoenix Feather", Fireside Magazine, 2012
"The Lady Astronaut of Mars", Audible, 2012, Tor.com, 2013
"We Interrupt This Broadcast", The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination, 2013 - part of the Lady Astronaut Universe series
"Midnight Hour", Uncanny Magazine, 2015
"Grinding Time", Popular Science, 2015
"Your Mama's Adventures in Parenting", Shimmer, 2017
"Dust to Dust", Fireside Fiction, 2018
"Amara's Giraffe", May 2018 - part of the Lady Astronaut Universe series
"Rockets Red", July 2018 - part of the Lady Astronaut Universe series
"The Phobos Experience" - in Fantasy & Science Fiction July 2018 - part of the Lady Astronaut Universe series
"Articulated Restraint", Tor.com, 2019 - part of the Lady Astronaut Universe series
Children's books
Molly on the Moon, ill. Diana Mayo, Roaring Brook Press, 2022, ISBN 9781250259615
Audio books
Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal. "The Original" ISBN 9781980062738; eBook ISBN 9781938570360