Nancy Anne Kress (born January 20, 1948) is an American

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

writer. She began writing in 1976 but has achieved her greatest notice since the publication of her Hugo- and

Nebula A nebula (; or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral, or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regions, such as in the Pillars of Creation in ...

-winning novella '' Beggars in Spain'' (1991), which became a novel in 1993. She also won the Nebula Award for Best Novella in 2013 for ''After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall'', and in 2015 for ''Yesterday's Kin''. In addition to her novels, Kress has written numerous short stories and is a regular columnist for '' Writer's Digest''. She is a regular at Clarion Workshops. During the winter of 2008/09, Nancy Kress was the Picador Guest Professor for Literature at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

's Institute for American Studies in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, Germany.

Biography

Born Nancy Anne Koningisor in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, she grew up in East Aurora and attended college at SUNY Plattsburgh and graduated with an M.A. in English. Before starting her writing career she taught elementary school and then college English. In 1973, she moved to Rochester to marry Michael Joseph Kress. They had two sons, and divorced in 1984. At that time, she went to work at Stanton and Hucko, an

advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generall ...

. She was married to Marcos Donnelly from 1988 to 1994. In 1998, she married fellow author

Charles Sheffield Charles Sheffield (25 June 1935 – 2 November 2002), was an English-born mathematician, physicist, and science-fiction writer who served as a President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and of the American Astronautical ...

, who died in 2002 of a

brain tumor A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the Human brain, brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign ...

. Kress moved back to

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

, to be near her grown children. In 2009, she moved to Seattle. In February 2011, she married author Jack Skillingstead.

Work

Kress tends to write

hard science fiction Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by concern for scientific accuracy and logic. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell's ''Islands of Space'' in the Novemb ...

, or technically realistic stories, often set in a fairly near future. Her fiction often involves

genetic engineering Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of Genetic engineering techniques, technologies used to change the genet ...

and, to a lesser degree,

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

. There are many invented technologies shared between her stories, including "genemod", to refer to genetic engineering, and "foamcast", a lightweight and sturdy building material that appears in many of her novels and short stories. By conducting extensive research, she keeps her topics within the realm of possibility; however, as Kress clarified for one '' Locus'' interviewer, with regards to her partner and fellow science fiction writer, " heffieldpronounces it ''

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'' fiction, and I pronounce it science ''

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

''." Kress also loves

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

, and has written stories around it.

Awards

Nebula Award The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA), a nonprofit association of pr ...

**Best Short Story winner (1986): " Out of All Them Bright Stars", ''F&SF'' March 1985 **Best Novella (1991): ''Beggars in Spain'' (Axolotl Press / Pulphouse Feb. 1991) / ''Asimov's'' April 1991 **Best Novelette (1998): "The Flowers of Aulit Prison", ''Asimov's'' Oct./Nov. 1996 **Best Novella (2007): " Fountain of Age", ''Asimov's'' July 2007 **Best Novella (2012): "After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall", Tachyon Publications **Best Novella (2014): "Yesterday's Kin", Tachyon Publications *

Hugo Award 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 (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...

** Best Novella (1992): ''Beggars in Spain'' (Axolotl Press / Pulphouse Feb. 1991) / ''Asimov's'' April 1991 **Best Novella (2009): "The Erdmann Nexus", ''Asimov's'' Oct./Nov. 2008 * John W. Campbell Memorial Award **Best Novel (2003): ''Probability Space'', (Tor Sep. 2002) * Theodore Sturgeon Award **Best Short Science Fiction (1997): "The Flowers of Aulit Prison", ''Asimov's'' Oct./Nov. 1996

Bibliography

References

External links

*
Blog
– inactive since February 2013 * *
Bibliography
at FantasticFiction

at ''Free Speculative Fiction Online''

Interviews

at ''ConFuse''

at ''Fictionwise''

in ''Locus Magazine''
2007 interview
at ''Writer Unboxed''

at ''Dark Roasted Blend''
2008 interview
at ''Futurismic''
2008 interview
at ''Feminist SF – The Blog!''
2010 interview excerpts
in ''Locus Magazine''
2016 interview excerpts
in ''Locus Magazine''
2016 interview
in '' Lightspeed'', focusing on the release of ''The Best of Nancy Kress''
Anna Kendall
at LC Authorities, with 1 record {{DEFAULTSORT:Kress, Nancy 1948 births Living people American science fiction writers Hugo Award–winning writers Nebula Award winners Writers from Buffalo, New York Writers of books about writing fiction Science fiction academics State University of New York at Plattsburgh alumni American women science fiction and fantasy writers American women novelists 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Asimov's Science Fiction people Novelists from New York (state)