Amal El-Mohtar (born 13 December 1984) is a Canadian poet and writer of

speculative fiction Speculative fiction is an umbrella term, umbrella genre of fiction that encompasses all the subgenres that depart from Realism (arts), realism, or strictly imitating everyday reality, instead presenting fantastical, supernatural, futuristic, or ...

. She is the editor of ''Goblin Fruit'' and reviews

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 ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

books for the ''

New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'' and is best known for the 2019 novella ''

This Is How You Lose the Time War ''This Is How You Lose the Time War'' is a 2019 science fiction fantasy LGBT epistolary novel by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. It was first published by Simon & Schuster. It won the BSFA Award for Best Shorter Fiction, the 2019 Nebula Award f ...

'', co-written with

Max Gladstone Max Gladstone (born May 28, 1984) is an American fantasy author. He is best known for his 2012 debut novel ''Three Parts Dead'', which is part of '' The Craft Sequence'', his urban fantasy serial ''Bookburners'', and for co-writing '' This Is How Y ...

, which won the 2019

Nebula Award for Best Novella The Nebula Award for Best Novella is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy novellas. A work of fiction is defined by the organization as a novella if it is between 17,500 and 4 ...

,2019 Nebula Award Finalists Announced
, at

Science Fiction Writers of America The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, doing business as Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association and commonly known as SFWA ( or ) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. Whi ...

, published February 20, 2020; retrieved February 20, 2020 the 2020

Locus Award for Best Novella The Locus Award for Best Novella is one of a number of Locus Awards given out each year by '' Locus'' magazine. Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar year. The first award in this category was presented i ...

, the 2020

Hugo Award for Best Novella The Hugo Award for Best Novella is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The novella award is available for works of fiction of between ...

,2020 Hugo Awards Announced
, at

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 (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by t ...

; retrieved August 1, 2020 and several other awards.

Writing career

She has published short fiction, poetry, essays and reviews, and has edited the fantastic poetry quarterly magazine ''Goblin Fruit'' since 2006. El-Mohtar began reviewing science fiction and fantasy books for the ''

'' in February 2018. She has worked as a creative writing instructor at

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...

and the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

. In 2018, she also served as a host on

Brandon Sanderson Brandon Winn Sanderson (born December19, 1975) is an American author of high fantasy, science fiction, and young adult books. He is best known for the Cosmere fictional universe, in which most of his fantasy novels, most notably the '' Mistb ...

's creative writing podcast ''

Writing Excuses ''Writing Excuses'' is a podcast hosted by authors Dan Wells (author), Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Erin Roberts, DongWon Song, and author and web cartoonist Howard Tayler, and formerly also hosted by author Brandon Sanderson. Promoted as " ...

'' for Season 13. In 2025, she released her first solo novella, '' The River Has Roots''.

Awards and honors

Selected awards: ''This Is How You Lose the Time War'' was also a finalist for the 2019

Shirley Jackson Award The Shirley Jackson Awards are literary awards named after Shirley Jackson in recognition of her legacy in writing. These awards for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror and dark fantasy are presented at Rea ...

in the Novella category, a finalist for the inaugural

Ray Bradbury Award The Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation (formerly the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation) is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) for science fiction or fant ...

for Science Fiction, Fantasy & Speculative Fiction at the 2019 ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prizes, and a finalist for the 2019

Kitschies The Kitschies were British literary prizes presented annually from 2009 to 2024 for "the year's most progressive, intelligent and entertaining works that contain elements of the speculative or fantastic" published in the United Kingdom. The awa ...

in the Novel category. It also achieved second place in the 2020

Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award The Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award is an annual literary award presented by the Theodore Sturgeon Literary Trust and the Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas to the author of the best short science fiction story ...

. El-Mohtar announced in 2019 that the book has been

optioned In the film industry, an option agreement is a contract that "rents" the rights to a source material to a potential film producer. It grants the film producer the exclusive option to purchase rights to the source material if they live up to the te ...

for television, with scripts to be written by herself and Gladstone.This is How You Lose the Time War
, by

Cheryl Morgan Cheryl Morgan is a British science fiction critic and publisher. She has won Hugo Awards for her work on the fanzine ''Emerald City'' from 1995 to 2006, and as non-fiction editor of ''Clarkesworld'' magazine from 2009 to 2011. Morgan was the f ...

, at Cheryl-Morgan.com; retrieved October 27, 2019 El-Mohtar has also received the

Rhysling Award __NOTOC__ The Rhysling Awards are an annual award given for the best speculative poetry, science fiction, fantasy, or horror poem of the year. The award name was dubbed by Andrew Joron in reference to a character in a science fiction story: the bl ...

for Best Short Poem in 2009, 2011 and 2014.

Personal life

El-Mohtar was born in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

to a family of Lebanese descent. She grew up in Ottawa with the exception of two years spent in Lebanon beginning when she was six years old. She is married and lives in Ottawa. She is bisexual.

Selected works

El-Mohtar's full bibliography includes an extensive list of short stories, poems, essays, and reviews.Full bibliography https://amalelmohtar.com/bibliography/ * ''The Honey Month'', collected short fiction, Papaveria Press 2010; * ''

'' (with

), novella, 2019; * '' The River Has Roots'', novella, 2025;

Notes

References

External links

* *
"Seasons of Glass and Iron"
winner of the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards in 2016-17 {{DEFAULTSORT:El-Mohtar, Amal 1984 births 21st-century Canadian poets 21st-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian short story writers 21st-century Canadian women writers Academic staff of Carleton University Academic staff of the University of Ottawa Canadian fantasy writers Canadian people of Lebanese descent Canadian science fiction writers Canadian women poets Hugo Award–winning writers Living people Nebula Award winners Place of birth missing (living people) Rhysling Award for Best Short Poem winners Canadian women science fiction and fantasy writers Poets from Ottawa Aurora Award–winning writers Canadian LGBTQ poets Canadian bisexual women Lebanese LGBTQ people Canadian queer writers Canadian bisexual writers Bisexual women writers 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Novelists from Ottawa