R. B. Lemberg
Native name	Р. Б. Лемберґ
Born	Rouz Lemberg (1976-09-27)September 27, 1976 (age 49) Lviv,Ukrainian SSR,Soviet Union (nowUkraine)
Occupation	Author Professor of Sociolinguistics
Education	University of California, Berkeley
Genre	Science fiction fantasy poetry essays
Notable works	The Four Profound Weaves (2020) The Unbalancing (2022)
Spouse	Bogi Takács
Website
rblemberg.net

R. B. Lemberg^[a] (bornRose Lemberg,^[b] September 27, 1976) is an author, poet, and editor ofspeculative fiction.^[1][2] Their^[c] work has been distributed in publications such asLightspeed,Strange Horizons,Beneath Ceaseless Skies, andUncanny Magazine, and stories have been featured in anthologies such asSisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology andTranscendent 3: The Year's Best Transgender Speculative Fiction 2017 .^[2][3][4][5]

Lemberg isqueer,bigender, and autistic.^[6] Many of Lemberg's stories and poems are situated inBirdverse, an LGBTQIA+-focusedsecondary world.^[7] Their debutBirdverse novellaThe Four Profound Weaves was published byTachyon in 2020 and was a finalist for the 2021World Fantasy,Nebula,Locus, andIgnyte awards for Best Novella and was on the Honor List for theOtherwise Award.^{[8][9][10][11][12][13]} Their firstBirdverse novel,The Unbalancing was published byTachyon in 2022, was a finalist for theLocus Award.^[14] Their second novella,The Yoke of Stars, was published by Tachyon in 2024, and is a finalist for the 2025World Fantasy Award.^[15] Lemberg's work has also been a finalist for theNebula,Crawford, and other awards.^[16] TheirBirdverse short fiction collectionGeometries of Belonging: Stories & Poems From the Birdverse was published byFairwood Press in late 2022, and include a previously unpublished story, "Where Your Quince Trees Grow".^[17]

Lemberg was born inL'viv,Ukraine on September 27, 1976.^{[1][3][18][6]} They lived in Russia and Israel before emigrating to the United States for graduate school atUniversity of California, Berkeley.^[19]

In their academic life, Lemberg is a professor ofsociolinguistics working on immigrant discourse, identity, and gender.^[20]

Lemberg lives in Lawrence,Kansas, with their spouse,Bogi Takács (who is also queer,transgender, and Eastern European Jewish) and their child.^[19]

Lemberg is the founding editor ofStone Telling, a magazine ofspeculative poetry that debuted in 2010 and was named for the main characters inUrsula K. Le Guin's novelAlways Coming Home.^[21] In 2012, they collected and editedHere, We Cross (An Anthology of Queer and Genderfluid Poetry from Stone Telling 1–7) from the works published in the early issues ofStone Telling, and editedThe Moment of Change: An Anthology of Feminist Speculative Poetry.^[22][23][24] In 2016, they edited the short fiction anthologyAn Alphabet of Embers: An Anthology of Unclassifiables, which focused on short fiction works that defied classification by genre.^[25] In 2021, as a tribute following the passing ofUrsula K. Le Guin in 2018, Lemberg, and co-editor Lisa Bradley, editedClimbing Lightly Through Forests: A Poetry Anthology Honoring Ursula K. Le Guin.^[26]

Lemberg's poetry has been published inStrange Horizons,Goblin Fruit,Uncanny Magazine,Fireside Magazine,Apex Magazine and many others.^[2][3][4][5] Their poetry has won theStrange Horizons Readers' Poll multiple times: "In the Third Cycle" in 2011, "Between the Mountain and the Moon" in 2012, and "Ranra's Unbalancing" in 2015.^[27][28][29] Their poem, "I will show you a single treasure from the treasures of Shah Niya", came in third place for the 2014Rhysling Award in the Long Poem category.^[30][31] Their debut poetry collection,Marginalia to Stone Bird was shortlisted for the 2017Crawford Award and was a finalist for the 2017 and 2018Elgin Awards.^{[32][33][34][35]} Their poetry memoir,Everything Thaws, which recalls Lemberg's early life in the Soviet Union and their migrations to Israel and the United States, was published in 2023 by Ben Yehuda Press.^[36][37]

Lemberg was awarded the 2020 Le Guin Feminist Science Fiction Fellowship, sponsored by the University of Oregon Libraries Special Collections and University Archives, which gave them access to many ofLe Guin's archives.^[38][39] On Lemberg's website, they revealed that their project for the Fellowship, for which the archival research was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, was primarily focused on Le Guin's poetry, which they previously discussed in their essay “The Poetry of Ursula K. Le Guin: A Retrospective” and appeared inClimbing Lightly Through Forests: A Poetry Anthology Honoring Ursula K. Le Guin.^[40]

During the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lemberg translated works by Ukrainian poets forChytomo,Springhouse Journal, and National Translation Month'sUkrainian Poetry in Translation Special Feature - Part II.^[41][42][43]

Lemberg's short fiction has been published inLightspeed,Strange Horizons,Beneath Ceaseless Skies,Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology,Uncanny Magazine,Daily Science Fiction,Transcendent 3: The Year's Best Transgender Speculative Fiction 2017, and others.^[2][3][4][5] Many of these stories are situated in their LGBTQIA+-focusedsecondary world,Birdverse.^[7] TheirBirdverse novelette, "Grandmother-nai-Laylit's Cloth of Winds", was a finalist for the 2015Nebula Award Finalist for Best Novelette and on the long list for the 2015Tiptree Award.^[44][45] In 2020, theirBirdverse novella,The Four Profound Weaves, was published byTachyon to critical and reader acclaim, including a starred review and selection as a weekly pick byPublishers Weekly and a starred review fromLibrary Journal.^[46][47][48]The Four Profound Weaves was a finalist for the 2021World Fantasy Award,Nebula Award,Locus Award, andIgnyte Award for Best Novella, and was on the Honor List for theOtherwise Award.^{[8][9][10][11][12][13]}

Lemberg's debutBirdverse novel,The Unbalancing, an expansion of the story of their poem "Ranra's Unbalancing", was published byTachyon in 2022 with positive reviews fromLibrary Journal andPublishers Weekly.^[14][49][50] TheirBirdverse collection,Geometries of Belonging: Stories & Poems from the Birdverse, received a starred review fromPublishers Weekly ahead of its release fromFairwood Press in late 2022, and notes the inclusion of a new story in the collection, "Where Your Quince Trees Grow", which follows descendants of the main characters fromThe Unbalancing.^[17]

• —— (2020).The Four Profound Weaves.Tachyon.
• —— (2022).The Unbalancing.Tachyon.
• —— (2024).Yoke of Stars.Tachyon.ISBN 978-1-61696-418-4.

• —— (2022).Geometries of Belonging: Stories & Poems from the Birdverse.Fairwood Press.

• Everything Thaws - Ben Yehuda Press, 2023
• Marginalia to Stone Bird –Aqueduct Press, 2016^[62]

• Climbing Lightly Through Forests: A Poetry Anthology Honoring Ursula K. Le Guin (with Lisa Bradley) -Aqueduct Press, 2021.
• An Alphabet of Embers: An Anthology of Unclassifiables – Stone Bird Press, 2016
• Here, We Cross (An Anthology of Queer and Genderfluid Poetry from Stone Telling 1–7) – Stone Bird Press, 2012.
• The Moment of Change: An Anthology of Feminist Speculative Poetry -Aqueduct Press, 2012.
• Stone Telling magazine, 2010–2016

• "Sergeant Bothari and Disability Representation in the Early Vorkosiverse",Strange Horizons, 2018
• "The Uses and Limitations of the Folklorist's Toolkit for Fiction",Strange Horizons, 2015
• "Encouraging Diversity: An Editor's Perspective",Strange Horizons, 2015
• "Not Only a Hero's Journey", with Shweta Narayan,Stone Telling, 2011
• "Silence to Speech",Stone Telling, 2010

• List of fantasy authors
• List of LGBT writers

• Official website
• R. B. Lemberg at theInternet Speculative Fiction Database
• R. B. Lemberg's Patreon

• My Favorite Bit: R. B. Lemberg Talks AboutThe Four Profound Weaves, Alyshondra Meacham, MaryRobinetteKowal.com
• Noticing Language: An Interview with Rose Lemberg, Julia Rios,Strange Horizons, 2013
• R. B. Lemberg talks The Birdverse, Identity and Government, Dominic Walsh, SciFiPulse, 2021
• R. B. Lemberg: A Different Adventure,Locus, 2021
• Interview with R. B. Lemberg (The Unbalancing), The Fantasy Hive, 2022
• Author Interview: Queer Norms and Sexualities in R. B. Lemberg's Birdverse, Jaymee Goh,Beneath Ceaseless Skies, 8 September 2022

• 1976 births
• Living people
• 21st-century American non-fiction writers
• Jewish American non-fiction writers
• Jewish American poets
• American science fiction writers
• Transgender Jews
• University of California, Berkeley alumni
• Israeli emigrants to the United States
• American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent
• American people of Russian-Jewish descent
• American LGBTQ poets
• 21st-century American Jews
• Ukrainian emigrants to the United States
• Ukrainian science fiction writers
• 21st-century American LGBTQ people
• American queer writers
• Transgender non-binary people
• Autistic writers
• American writers with disabilities
• LGBTQ writers with disabilities
• American transgender writers
• American non-binary writers
• American queer artists
• Queer poets
• Non-binary science fiction writers
• Autistic LGBTQ people
• American autistic people
• Transgender people with disabilities
• Ukrainian LGBTQ people

• Articles containing Ukrainian-language text
• CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia