Mary Robinette Kowal
Kowal in 2025
Born	Mary Robinette Harrison (1969-02-08)February 8, 1969 (age 56) Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.
Occupation	puppeteer author voice actor
Nationality	American
Alma mater	East Carolina University
Genre	Science fiction,fantasy,fantasy of manners
Notable works	The Calculating Stars Shades of Milk and Honey "Evil Robot Monkey" "For Want of a Nail"
Notable awards	John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (2008) Hugo Award for Best Short Story (2011) Hugo Award for Best Related Work (2013) Hugo Award for Best Novelette (2014) Nebula Award for Best Novel (2018) Hugo Award for Best Novel (2019)
Signature
Website
www.maryrobinettekowal.com

Mary Robinette Kowal (née Harrison; born February 8, 1969)^[1] is an American author, translator, art director, and puppeteer.^{[2][non-primary source needed]} As an author, she is a four-timeHugo Award winner, aNebula Award andLocus Award winner, and served as the president of theScience Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America from 2019-2021. She has worked on puppetry for shows includingJim Henson Productions and the children's showLazyTown.

Mary Robinette Harrison was born inRaleigh, North Carolina. She was named after both of her grandmothers, and describes her given name, "Mary Robinette," as adouble first name.^{[3][non-primary source needed]} She attendedWilliam G. Enloe High School,^{[4][5][non-primary source needed]} and studied atEast Carolina University. She graduated with a degree in Art Education with a minor in theater and began work as a professionalpuppeteer in 1989.

Kowal has performed for theCenter for Puppetry Arts,Jim Henson Productions; and her own production company, Other Hand Productions.^[6] She also worked inIceland on the children's television showLazyTown for two seasons.^{[7][non-primary source needed]} She was accepted as a participant in a Sesame Puppetry Workshop.^{[8][non-primary source needed]}

Kowal served as art director forShimmer Magazine and in 2010 was named art director forWeird Tales.^[9]

In 2008, Kowal won theJohn W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.^[10]

Kowal's work as an author includes "For Solo Cello, op. 12",^{[11][non-primary source needed]} (originally published inCosmos Magazine and reprinted inScience Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2008 Edition,^[12]) which made the preliminary ballot for the 2007Nebula Awards.^[13] Her fiction has also appeared inTalebones Magazine,Strange Horizons, andApex Digest, among other venues.^{[14][non-primary source needed]} Her debut novelShades of Milk and Honey was nominated for the 2010Nebula Award for Best Novel.^[15] Two of her short fiction works have been nominated for theHugo Award for Best Short Story: "Evil Robot Monkey" in 2009^[16] and "For Want of a Nail", which won the award in 2011.^[17] Her novelette "The Lady Astronaut of Mars" won the 2014Hugo Award for Best Novelette.^[18]The Calculating Stars, the first novel in her Lady Astronaut series, won the 2019Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 2018Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 2018Sidewise Award for Alternate History.^[19][20][21]

Kowal translated the 2021 novelThe Night Guest, byHildur Knútsdóttir, from Icelandic into English, which was published in 2024. Kowal studied Icelandic while living in Reykjavík and working for the showLazyTown. It is Kowal's first work of translation.^[22]

Kowal served as secretary of theScience 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.^[23] In July 2018, after criticism^[24] that many authors who were Hugo award finalists at the August 2018World Science Fiction Convention had not been selected to participate on that year's panels, Kowal took over as programming chair.^[25] She also served as chair of theDisCon III the 2021Worldcon after the original chairs resigned.^[26]

After appearing several times as a guest on the podcastWriting Excuses, Kowal became a full-time cast member at the start of the sixth season in 2011.^[27]

Kowal is avoice actor and has recordedaudiobooks for authors includingJohn Scalzi,Seanan McGuire,Cory Doctorow andKage Baker.^{[28][non-primary source needed]}

This list isincomplete; you can help byadding missing items.(July 2023)

• Ghost Talkers,Tor Books, 2016,ISBN 978-0-7653-7825-5
• The Spare Man,Tor Books, 2022ISBN 978-1-250-82917-7
• Apprehension, Saga Doubles, 2025 (in double-sided book withRed Star Hustle bySam J. Miller)ISBN 978-1-6680-9915-5

Glamourist Histories series

• Shades of Milk and Honey.Tor Books, 2010,ISBN 978-0-7653-2556-3
• Glamour in Glass,Tor Books, 2012,ISBN 978-0-7653-2557-0
• Without a Summer,Tor Books, 2013,ISBN 978-0-7653-3415-2
• Valour and Vanity,Tor Books, 2014,ISBN 9780765334169
• Of Noble Family,Tor Books, 2015,ISBN 978-0-7653-7836-1

Lady Astronaut Universe

• The Calculating Stars,Tor Books, 2018,ISBN 978-0-7653-7838-5
• The Fated Sky,Tor Books, 2018,ISBN 978-0-7653-9894-9
• The Relentless Moon,Tor Books, 2020,ISBN 978-1250236968^[56]
• The Martian Contingency,Tor Books, 2025,ISBN 9781250237057 (originally announced for 2022)^[56][57]
• Silent Spaces,Kickstarter, projected publishing date July 2025^{[58][non-primary source needed]}

Collections

• Scenting the Dark and Other Stories,Subterranean Press, 2009,ISBN 978-1-59606-267-2
• Word Puppets, Prime Books, 2015,ISBN 978-1-60701-456-0

Stories^[59]

• "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 (nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story)
• "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 (winner of theHugo Award for Best Short Story)
• "Salt of the Earth",Redstone Science Fiction, 2010
• "American Changeling",Daily Science Fiction, 2010
• "Changement d'itinéraire (Changed Itinerary)",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 (winner of theHugo Award for Best Novelette)
• "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" - inFantasy & Science Fiction July 2018 - part of the Lady Astronaut Universe series
• "Articulated Restraint",Tor.com, 2019^[60] - part of the Lady Astronaut Universe series

• Molly on the Moon, ill. Diana Mayo,Roaring Brook Press, 2022, ISBN 9781250259615^[61]

• Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal. "The Original" (Recorded Books, 2020) ISBN 9781980062738; eBook (Dragonsteel, 2025) ISBN 9781938570360

Wikiquote has quotations related toMary Robinette Kowal.

• Official website
• Mary Robinette Kowal's Weekly Fantasy Column at AMCtv.comArchived 2011-04-12 at theWayback Machine
• Mary Robinette Kowal at theInternet Speculative Fiction Database

• 1969 births
• Living people
• 21st-century American novelists
• 21st-century American short story writers
• 21st-century American women novelists
• American alternate history writers
• American book podcasters
• American puppeteers
• American science fiction writers
• American women podcasters
• American women short story writers
• Asimov's Science Fiction people
• East Carolina University alumni
• Hugo Award–winning writers
• John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer winners
• Nebula Award winners
• Novelists from North Carolina
• Presidents of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association
• Sidewise Award winners
• Enloe High School alumni
• American women science fiction and fantasy writers
• Writers from Raleigh, North Carolina
• Female puppeteers

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