biography
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N. K. Jemisin is an award-winning, bestselling fantasy author who lives and writes in Brooklyn, New York.
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N. K. Jemisin is a bestselling author and MacArthur Fellow whose works, including the Broken Earth trilogy, have won multiple awards and sold over two million copies. The full list of her works can be found at nkjemisin.com. She lives and writes in Brooklyn, with her son and two cats.
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N. K. Jemisin is a fantasy author and 2020 MacArthur Fellow whose fiction has been recognized with multiple Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards. Most of her works have been optioned for television or film, and collectively her novels, including the Broken Earth trilogy, have sold over two million copies. Her speculative works range widely in theme, though with repeated motifs: resistance and oppression, loneliness and belonging, and Wouldn’t It Be Cool If This One Ridiculous Thing Happened.
In her spare time she’s into tabletop and video games, biking, fanfiction, and urban gardening. She lives and writes in Brooklyn, with her son and two cats.
150 Words
N. K. Jemisin is a fantasy author and 2020 MacArthur Fellow. Since beginning her professional career in the early 2000s, her short fiction and novels have been recognized with multiple Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards. Most of her works have been optioned for television or film, and collectively her novels, including the Broken Earth, trilogy have sold over two million copies. After twenty years working in higher education as an applied counseling psychologist, she “retired” in 2016 to become a full-time writer, writing instructor, and public speaker. Her speculative works range widely in theme, though with repeated motifs: resistance and oppression, loneliness and belonging, and Wouldn’t It Be Cool If This One Ridiculous Thing Happened.
In her spare time she’s into tabletop and video games, biking, fanfiction, and urban gardening. She lives and writes in Brooklyn, with her son and two cats.
FAQ
Where do you get your ideas?
They’re delivered in the morning mail. Support the US Postal Service!
So you’re Black! And a woman! In science fiction! What’s that about?
I understand why these questions are important. It is disheartening that people keep asking them, however, or some version of them. At this point, for me, these questions are a reflection the larger problem – that for those of us who are Other, we are constantly called upon to explain our existence. Therefore I ask that interviewers stop doing it, and think of something more interesting to ask.
When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
Always. As a kid I devoured books at the library, and at home I would make my own handwritten books with cardboard covers and yarn binding. It took a while for me to decide to do it professionally, but I’ve been a writer for as long as I can remember.
How did you become a writer?
Nobody bought the ones with cardboard covers, so I had to try something new.
Serious answer: I’ve been writing since the age of 8 or so, but only began seriously seeking publication in my late twenties and early thirties. I started with a writing workshop (Viable Paradise), and from there on I joined a writing group and wrote short stories to hone my craft and novels to tell the stories I wanted to tell. I sent the stories to magazines and the books to agents. Once I found the right agent for myself, we then worked together for several years before the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms sold. I kept a folder of rejections as motivation to keep going. I don’t know where that folder is anymore, which feels like as good a measure of success as anything else.
How do I become a writer?
Unfortunately there is no one way to answer this question. You become a writer by writing, and if that in itself makes you happy, you’ve succeeded already. To have a writing career means a lot of small-business management, market research, patience, and perseverance. The good news is that social media and the internet have made it much easier to do this work than it was when I started out. The bad news is, no one can give you the patience or the perseverance except yourself. It can be helpful to form a solid group of fellow writers seeking publication, either as general support or as a dedicated writing group — but in the end, it all comes down to you. Good luck.
How do you keep writing?
By not writing sometimes! Diligence is very important for a writer, especially a writer on contract. However, if that’s all you do, you will absolutely burn out, and recovery time for burnout is not quick. So, in order to keep writing, I travel, read, write “just for fun”/myself, and occasionally play Skyrim.
Resources
SAMPLE INTERVIEWS
The New Yorker, 2020
Paris Review, 2018
GQ, 2018
Vulture, 2018
SELECT BLOG POSTS
How Long ‘Til Black Future Month?
Dreaming Awake
Carving a New World