Jeannette Ng () is a British fantasy writer best known for her 2017 novel '' Under the Pendulum Sun'', for which she won the Sydney J Bounds Award for Best Newcomer at the 2018

British Fantasy Award The British Fantasy Awards (BFA) are awarded annually by the British Fantasy Society (BFS), first in 1976. Prior to that they were known as The August Derleth Fantasy Awards (see August Derleth Award). First awarded in 1972 (to ''The Knight of ...

s. For that work, she was also the winner of the 2019 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, which, largely due to her acceptance speech, was shortly renamed thereafter to the ''Astounding'' Award for Best New Writer.

Life and education

Ng was born in Hong Kong, and used her 2019 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer acceptance speech to pay tribute to the Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protestors. She studied at Durham University, earning an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in Medieval and Renaissance Studies. She lives in

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

, England. Ng is a nonbinary woman and uses she or they pronouns.

Career

Publications

Ng's 2017 debut novel ''Under the Pendulum Sun'' (published by Angry Robot) concerns a fantastical journey in gothic mid-19th century England, and was shortlisted for ''Starburst'''s 2017 Brave New Words award and the 2018 Robert Holdstock Award for Best Fantasy Novel at the

British Fantasy Awards The British Fantasy Awards (BFA) are awarded annually by the British Fantasy Society (BFS), first in 1976. Prior to that they were known as The August Derleth Fantasy Awards (see August Derleth Award). First awarded in 1972 (to ''The Knight of S ...

. It was named by Syfy as one of the "10 Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of 2017" and included in Adam Roberts' list of "The best science fiction and fantasy of 2017" in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and Jeff Somers' list of "50 of the Greatest Science Fiction & Fantasy Debut Novels Ever Written." Ng won the Sydney J Bounds Award for Best Newcomer at the 2018

s for ''Under the Pendulum Sun'', and was a 2018 finalist and 2019 winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, announced as part of the

Hugo Awards The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier ...

. Her story "How the Tree of Wishes Gained its Carapace of Plastic" is included in the anthology ''Not So Stories'', published April 2018 by

Abaddon Books Abaddon Books is a British publishing imprint, founded in 2006. It is part of the Rebellion group of companies, along with publishing companies Solaris Books, ''2000 AD'', 2000 AD Graphic Novels, and Cubicle 7. Abaddon publishes " shared wor ...

, and was described by ''Starburst'' as "a tour de force of the author's talents." Other short stories have been published in ''Mythic Delirium'' and ''Shoreline of Infinity'' magazines.

John W. Campbell Award and acceptance speech

In 2019, Ng won the

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer The ''Astounding'' Award for Best New Writer (formerly the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer) is given annually to the best new writer whose first professional work of science fiction or fantasy was published within the two previous ...

, awarded during the Hugo Award ceremony at the 77th World Science Fiction Convention. As part of her acceptance speech, she referred to the award's namesake

John W. Campbell John Wood Campbell Jr. (June 8, 1910 – July 11, 1971) was an American science fiction writer and editor. He was editor of ''Astounding Science Fiction'' (later called '' Analog Science Fiction and Fact'') from late 1937 until his death ...

as "a fucking fascist", sparking debate in the science fiction and fantasy community. On 27 August, the editor of award sponsors '' Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' announced that the award would be renamed the ''

Astounding Award for Best New Writer The ''Astounding'' Award for Best New Writer (formerly the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer) is given annually to the best new writer whose first professional work of science fiction or fantasy was published within the two previous ...

''. In July 2020, Ng was awarded the

Hugo Award for Best Related Work The Hugo Award for Best Related Work is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for primarily non-fiction works related to science fiction or fantasy, published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The Hugo Awards have be ...

for her 2019 John W. Campbell Award acceptance speech. In her acceptance speech for this award (delivered by video due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

), she said that "pulling down memorials to dead racists is not the erasing of history, it is how we make history". She also said that "Last time I gave a speech at WorldCon, it was literally hours after a huge march in Hong Kong, my most cyberpunk of cities. Since then, things have gotten worse." "The tactics used to marginalise us, the tear gas used against us, it is the same everywhere. And we defeat it in the same way. And so our coming together is more important than ever before. To write a future of joy and hope and change." "Now is the time. Now is always the time. Free Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Time."

Bibliography

Novels

Short fiction

Essays

* "Textile Arts Are Worldbuilding, Too" in ''Lost Transmissions: The Secret History of Science Fiction and Fantasy'' (2019), ed. Desirina Boskovich * "As You Know, Bob...", in ''

Uncanny Magazine ''Uncanny Magazine'' is an American science fiction and fantasy online magazine, edited and published by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, based in Urbana, Illinois. Its mascot is a space unicorn. The editors-in-chief, who originally ...

'' (November-December 2019) * "2019 John W. Campbell Award Acceptance Speech" (2020) * "The History and Politics of Wuxia" in ''

Tor.com ''Tor.com'' is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on speculative fiction. From 20 ...

'' (2019) * "She Is Sword, and She Is Sorcery: Womanhood in The Witcher and The Wheel of Time" in ''Uncanny Magazine'' (July-August 2022)

Awards

References

External links

*
Author page
at Angry Robot Books
Maelstromic Insight: Thoughts and Theories on Game Design for Live Roleplay

John W Campbell Award acceptance speech

ISFDB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ng, Jeannette Living people Hong Kong women Hong Kong writers Hong Kong novelists LGBT people from Hong Kong Non-binary writers Writers of Gothic fiction Women science fiction and fantasy writers British fantasy writers British women novelists British women short story writers 21st-century British women writers 21st-century British novelists 21st-century British short story writers Alumni of Grey College, Durham Year of birth missing (living people) Hugo Award-winning writers John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer winners