Becky Chambers (born May 3, 1985) 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 is the author of the

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 ...

-winning ''Wayfarers'' series as well as novellas including '' To Be Taught, If Fortunate'' (2019) and the ''Monk & Robot'' series, which begins with the Hugo Award-winning '' A Psalm for the Wild-Built'' (2021). She is known for her innovative worldbuilding and character-driven stories, and is a pioneer of the hopepunk genre.

Early life, family and education

Chambers was born in 1985 in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

and grew up in Torrance. Chambers' family included several people with an interest in various

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

space exploration efforts. Her parents are an

astrobiology Astrobiology (also xenology or exobiology) is a scientific field within the List of life sciences, life and environmental sciences that studies the abiogenesis, origins, Protocell, early evolution, distribution, and future of life in the univ ...

educator and a satellite engineer. She became fascinated with space and its exploration at an early age. During her youth, after she first encountered a person who believed that such programs were unwise and that their funding would be better applied to solving Earth's problems, she began studying in detail humans' efforts to explore the cosmos, concluding that these efforts were commendable, although the present methods of funding could be improved. This deep analysis provided much inspiration for her writing. She moved to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

to study

theater arts Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

at the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1855, it has nearly 9,000 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees ...

Career

Chambers worked in theater management and as a freelance writer before

self-publishing Self-publishing is an author-driven publication of any media without the involvement of a third-party publisher. Since the advent of the internet, self-published usually depends upon digital platforms and print-on-demand technology, ranging fro ...

her first novel, '' The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet'', in 2014, after successfully raising funds on

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

. The novel received critical acclaim and a

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 ...

nomination, becoming the first self-published novel to do so. This prompted

Hodder & Stoughton Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.H ...

and

Harper Voyager HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the " Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster. HarperCollins is h ...

to pick up and republish the novel. The novel was the first book in the ''Wayfarers'' series, which includes three sequels: ''

A Closed and Common Orbit ''A Closed and Common Orbit'' is a 2016 science fiction novel by Becky Chambers, published by Hodder and Stoughton. It is a sequel to her 2014 novel '' The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet''. Synopsis In the aftermath of the events in '' The Lo ...

'', in 2016; '' Record of a Spaceborn Few'', in 2018; and '' The Galaxy, and the Ground Within'', in 2021. The series won the 2019 Hugo Award for Best Series. She has announced that the ''Wayfarers'' series has concluded. She published a novella, '' To Be Taught, If Fortunate'', in August 2019, with a story that was not connected to the ''Wayfarers'' books. In July 2018, it was announced that she signed a two-book deal with

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles. History Tor was founded by Tom Doherty, ...

. The first book, '' A Psalm for the Wild-Built'', was published in May 2021. The story introduced Dex, a travelling tea monk, and Mosscap, a

sentient Sentience is the ability to experience feelings and sensations. It may not necessarily imply higher cognitive functions such as awareness, reasoning, or complex thought processes. Some writers define sentience exclusively as the capacity for ''v ...

robot. The second book, '' A Prayer for the Crown-Shy'', was published in July 2022 and continued the story of Dex and Mosscap.

Style and themes

Her ''Wayfarers'' series novels take place in a

fictional universe A fictional universe, also known as an imagined universe or a constructed universe, is the internally consistent fictional setting used in a narrative or a work of art. This concept is most commonly associated with works of fantasy and scie ...

, governed by the Galactic Commons to which humans are relative newcomers. She has been lauded for the strong world-building in the series, including multiple unique alien races. Reviewers have cited her complex and likeable characters who drive the story. Her work has been alternately criticized and praised for the deliberate, character-driven pacing and lack of the propulsive plots typical of other space opera novels.

Personal life

Chambers has lived in Iceland and Scotland before returning to California, where she currently resides with her wife, Berglaug Asmundardottir, in Humboldt County.

Awards

Bibliography

Novels

* ''The Vela'', co-written with

Yoon Ha Lee Yoon Ha Lee (born 1979 in Houston, Texas) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer, known for his '' Machineries of Empire'' space opera novels and his short fiction. His first novel, '' Ninefox Gambit'', received the 2017 Locus Award ...

, S. L. Huang, and

Rivers Solomon Rivers Solomon is an American author of speculative and literary fiction. In 2018, they received the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses' Firecracker Award in Fiction for their debut novel, '' An Unkindness of Ghosts'', and in 2020 their ...

(2019)

''Wayfarers'' series

* '' The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet'' (2014) * ''

'' (2016) * '' Record of a Spaceborn Few'' (2018) * '' The Galaxy, and the Ground Within'' (2021)

Novellas

* '' To Be Taught, If Fortunate'' (2019)

''Monk & Robot'' series

* '' A Psalm for the Wild-Built'' (2021) * '' A Prayer for the Crown-Shy'' (2022)

Short stories

* "Chrysalis," ''Jurassic London's Stocking Stuffer'', 2014 * "The Deckhand, The Nova Blade, and the Thrice-Sung Texts," ''Cosmic Powers: The Saga Anthology of Far-Away Galaxies,'' 2017 * "Last Contact", ''2001: An Odyssey in Words'', 2018 * "A Good Heretic" (a ''Wayfarers'' story), ''Infinite Stars: Dark Frontiers'', 2019 * "The Tomb Ship", ''Lost Worlds & Mythological Kingdoms'', 2022

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chambers, Becky 1985 births 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American LGBTQ people American lesbian writers American LGBTQ novelists American science fiction writers American women novelists Hugo Award–winning writers LGBTQ people from California Living people American women science fiction and fantasy writers Writers from Los Angeles County, California Feminist science fiction Solarpunk People from Torrance, California