Ursa Major Award, Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Mythopoeic Award, WSFA Small Press Award, Locus Award
Ursula Vernon (born May 28, 1977) is an American freelance writer, artist and illustrator. She has won numerous awards for her work in various mediums, includingHugo Awards for her graphic novelDigger, fantasy novelNettle & Bone, and fantasy novellaThornhedge, theNebula Award for her short story "Jackalope Wives", andMythopoeic Awards for adult and children's literature. Vernon's books for children includeHamster Princess andDragonbreath. Under the nameT. Kingfisher, she is also the author of books for older audiences. She writes short fiction under both names.
Ursula Vernon grew up inOregon andArizona. She studiedanthropology atMacalester College inSaint Paul, Minnesota, where she first took art classes.[2] She first became known for her webcomics and as a freelance artist, particularly for her works containinganthropomorphic animals. She then moved into writing and illustrating a number of children's books, her first being published in 2008, and then books for adults under the pseudonym T. Kingfisher.[3][4] She decided to start using the pseudonym in order to avoid confusion amongst parents who were only familiar with her as a children's book author,[5] and chose it because she loveskingfishers and as an homage toUrsula K. LeGuin, who once joked that the initials "U.K." could stand for "Ulysses Kingfisher".[6] Vernon has published short fiction under both names, and has won a number of awards for them including theHugo Award andNebula Award.
She regularly attendsconventions to exhibit and sell her work. She has been a guest of honor atMidwest FurFest 2004 and 2009, and the Artist Guest of Honor atFurther Confusion 2010. Vernon was the Author Guest of Honor for Mythcon 45[7] and a Guest of Honor atEurofurence 20, both in August 2014. In 2017, she was the Author Guest of Honor atArisia '17.
Vernon podcasts with her husband, Kevin Sonney.[8]
In June 2023, Vernon announced she had been diagnosed with breast cancer;[9] by December of that year, she announced that her treatment had been successful and she was "cancer-free".[10]
The following books were written under the name T. Kingfisher and take place in what Vernon calls "the World of the White Rat"[11] or "the Temple of the White Rat world".[12][13]
Clockwork Boys.Clocktaur War #1. (November 21, 2017). Red Wombat Tea Company.ISBN9781614504061
The Wonder Engine.Clocktaur War #2. (February 27, 2018). Red Wombat Tea CompanyISBN9781614504177
Before becoming a published children's book author Vernon was primarily a freelance artist and illustrator, and she still regularly produces new works of art. Her work includes the creation ofdigital art as well as the use of more traditional mediums such aswatercolour and acrylics, with much of her more recent work beingmixed media. Most of her art work is available as prints. Vernon has also taken commercial commissions such as book covers and game art.
Her artwork titledThe Biting Pear of Salamanca became aninternet meme in the form of the "LOL WUT pear"[18] and has been made into aresinfigurine due to its popularity.[19] She has also designed labels for a series of tea and soap products.[20][21]
For her work onDigger, Vernon was nominated for the 2006Eisner Awards in the category "Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition",[22] and won the 2005Web Cartoonists' Choice Award for "Outstanding Black and White Art".Digger has also been nominated in the "Outstanding Anthropomorphic Comic" category.[23][24]
^abVernon, Ursula; Patrick Keith (September 2004)."Interview with Ursula Vernon". www.epilogue.net. RetrievedMarch 6, 2011.Digger, ... is a fantasy about a wombat
^Vernon, Ursula."FAQ".Red Wombat Studio. RetrievedNovember 4, 2025.[under § Writing, "What order should I read your books in?"] for books set in the universe of the Clockwork Boys, which I tentatively refer to as the World of the White Rat
