R. B. Lemberg

R. B. Lemberg (born Rose Lemberg; born 27 September 1976) is a queer, bigender, and autistic Ukrainian-American author, poet, and editor of speculative fiction. TheirDr. Lemberg's preferred pronoun is singular they, which this article uses. work has appeared in publications such as ''Lightspeed'', '' Strange Horizons'', '' Beneath Ceaseless Skies'', '' Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology'', ''Uncanny Magazine'', and '' Transcendent 3: The Year's Best Transgender Speculative Fiction 2017''.

Many of Lemberg's stories and poems are situated in ''Birdverse'', an LGBTQIA+-focused secondary world. Their debut ''Birdverse'' novella '' The Four Profound Weaves'' was published by Tachyon in 2020 and was a finalist for the 2021 World Fantasy, Nebula, Locus, and Ignyte awards for Best Novella and was on the Honor List for the Otherwise Award. Their first ''Birdverse'' novel, '' The Unbalancing'' was published by Tachyon in 2022, is a finalist for the Locus Award. Lemberg's work has also been a finalist for the Nebula, Crawford, and other awards. Their ''Birdverse'' short fiction collection ''Geometries of Belonging: Stories & Poems From the Birdverse'' was published by Fairwood Press in late 2022, and include a previously unpublished story, "Where Your Quince Trees Grow".

Biography

Lemberg was born in L'viv, Ukraine on September 27, 1976. They lived in Russia and Israel before emigrating to the United States for graduate school at University of California, Berkeley.

In their academic life, Lemberg is a professor of sociolinguistics working on immigrant discourse, identity, and gender.

Lemberg lives in Lawrence, Kansas, with their spouse, Bogi Takács (who is also queer, trans, and an Eastern European Jewish person) and their child Mati.

Career

Lemberg is the founding editor of ''Stone Telling'', a magazine of speculative poetry that debuted in 2010 and was named for the main characters in Ursula K. Le Guin's novel ''Always Coming Home''. In 2012, they collected and edited ''Here, We Cross (An Anthology of Queer and Genderfluid Poetry from Stone Telling 1–7)'' from the works published in the early issues of ''Stone Telling'', and edited ''The Moment of Change: An Anthology of Feminist Speculative Poetry''. In 2016, they edited the short fiction anthology ''An Alphabet of Embers: An Anthology of Unclassifiables'', which focused on short fiction works that defied classification by genre. In 2021, as a tribute following the passing of Ursula K. Le Guin in 2018, Lemberg, and co-editor Lisa Bradley, edited ''Climbing Lightly Through Forests: A Poetry Anthology Honoring Ursula K. Le Guin''.

Lemberg's poetry has been published in '' Strange Horizons'', ''Goblin Fruit'', ''Uncanny Magazine'', ''Fireside Magazine'', ''Apex Magazine'' and many others. Their poetry has won the '' Strange 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. Their poem, "I will show you a single treasure from the treasures of Shah Niya", came in third place for the 2014 Rhysling Award in the Long Poem category. Their debut poetry collection, ''Marginalia to Stone Bird'' was shortlisted for the 2017 Crawford Award and was a finalist for the 2017 and 2018 Elgin Awards. 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.

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 of Le Guin's archives. 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 in ''Climbing Lightly Through Forests: A Poetry Anthology Honoring Ursula K. Le Guin''.

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lemberg translated works by Ukrainian poets for ''Chytomo'', ''Springhouse Journal'', and National Translation Month's ''Ukrainian Poetry in Translation Special Feature - Part II''.

Lemberg's short fiction has been published in ''Lightspeed'', '' 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. Many of these stories are situated in their LGBTQIA+-focused secondary world, ''Birdverse''. Their ''Birdverse'' novelette, "Grandmother-nai-Laylit's Cloth of Winds", was a finalist for the 2015 Nebula Award Finalist for Best Novelette and on the long list for the 2015 Tiptree Award. In 2020, their ''Birdverse'' novella, '' The Four Profound Weaves'', was published by Tachyon to critical and reader acclaim, including a starred review and selection as a weekly pick by '' Publishers Weekly'' and a starred review from ''Library Journal''. '' The Four Profound Weaves'' was a finalist for the 2021 World Fantasy Award, Nebula Award, Locus Award, and Ignyte Award for Best Novella, and was on the Honor List for the Otherwise Award.

Lemberg's debut ''Birdverse'' novel, '' The Unbalancing'', an expansion of the story of their poem "Ranra's Unbalancing", was published by Tachyon in 2022 with positive reviews from ''Library Journal'' and '' Publishers Weekly''. Their ''Birdverse'' collection, ''Geometries of Belonging: Stories & Poems from the Birdverse'', received a starred review from '' Publishers Weekly'' ahead of its release from Fairwood 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 from '' The Unbalancing''.

Awards and nominations

* '' The Four Profound Weaves'' – 2020 Nebula Award Finalist for Best Novella; 2021 Ignyte Award Finalist for Best Novella; 2021 Locus Award Finalist for Best Novella; 2021 World Fantasy Award Finalist for Best Novella, and was on the Honor List for the 2020 Otherwise Award.
* '' The Unbalancing'' – 2022 Locus Award Finalist for Best Novel
* "Grandmother-nai-Laylit's Cloth of Winds", first published in '' Beneath Ceaseless Skies'', issue #175 (June 2015) - 2015 Nebula Award Finalist for Best Novelette, and on the long list for the 2015 Tiptree Award.
*''Marginalia to Stone Bird'', Aqueduct Press, 2016 - shortlisted for the Crawford Award, Finalist for the 2017 and 2018 Elgin Awards.
*"Ranra's Unbalancing", '' Strange Horizons'', 2015 - winner of the ''Strange Horizons'' Readers' Poll, 2015.
*"I will show you a single treasure from the treasures of Shah Niya", ''Goblin Fruit'', 2013 - came in third place for the 2014 Rhysling Award in the Long Poem category.
*"Between the Mountain and the Moon", '' Strange Horizons'', 2013 - winner of the ''Strange Horizons'' Readers' Poll, 2012.
*"In the Third Cycle", '' Strange Horizons'', 2011 - winner of the ''Strange Horizons'' Readers' Poll, 2011.
*''Geometries of Belonging'' - 2023 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize shortlist

Selected bibliography

Novels

''Birdverse''

* '' The Four Profound Weaves'', Tachyon, 2020

* '' The Unbalancing'', Tachyon, 2022

Short fiction

Collections

* ''Geometries of Belonging: Stories & Poems from the Birdverse'', Fairwood Press, 2022

''Birdverse'' Stories

Other Short Fiction

Poetry

Collections

* ''Everything Thaws'' - Ben Yehuda Press, 2023
* ''Marginalia to Stone Bird'' – Aqueduct Press, 2016

''Birdverse'' Poems

Editor

* ''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

Non-fiction

* "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

Notes

See also

* List of fantasy authors
* List of LGBT writers

References

External links

*
*

R. B. Lemberg's Patreon

Interviews

My Favorite Bit: R. B. Lemberg Talks About ''The 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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lemberg, R. B.
1976 births
Living people
21st-century American writers
Jewish American writers
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 LGBT poets
21st-century American Jews
Ukrainian emigrants to the United States
Ukrainian science fiction writers
21st-century American LGBT people
American queer writers
Transgender non-binary people
Writers with autism
American writers with disabilities
LGBT writers with disabilities
Transgender people with disabilities
American transgender writers
American non-binary writers
American queer artists
Queer poets