Emily Tesh is a

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, ...

author. She won the 2024

Hugo Award for Best Novel The Hugo Award for Best Novel is one of the Hugo Awards given each year by the World Science Fiction Society for science fiction or fantasy stories published in, or translated to, English during the previous calendar year. The novel award is ava ...

for her first novel, '' Some Desperate Glory''. She won the

World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year at the eponymous ann ...

in the novella category in 2020, and the ''Astounding'' Award for Best New Writer in 2021.

Biography

Emily Tesh grew up in London. Tesh has stated that she has written stories since she was a child. Tesh attended

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

and the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

. She lives in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

and is a school

classics Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...

teacher.

Writing career

Tesh's first published works were the novellas ''Silver in the Wood'' and ''Drowned Country'', in the Greenhollow Duology. ''Silver in the Wood'' is an adaptation of the

Green Man The Green Man, also known as a foliate head, is a motif in architecture and art, of a face made of, or completely surrounded by, foliage, which normally spreads out from the centre of the face. Apart from a purely decorative function, the Green ...

English tale. Author Katharine Coldiron described it as an "utterly enchanting" tale centering

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

romance and nature writing. The story won the 2020 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella. Tesh's first novel, '' Some Desperate Glory'', earned praise from critics and the 2024 Hugo Award for Best Novel. It is a science-fiction novel focusing on the choices that the protagonist, Kyr, must make during a devastating war after having been raised in a fascist, militaristic society. It is a queer story and subverts classic tropes from the

space opera Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes Space warfare in science fiction, space warfare, with use of melodramatic, risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance. Set mainly or entirely in outer space, i ...

and

bildungsroman In literary criticism, a bildungsroman () is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth and change of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age). The term comes from the German words ('formation' or 'edu ...

genres. Tesh's next novel, ''The Incandescent'', was released in May 2025. It is a fantasy novel following Dr. Walden, who is Director of Magic at a British boarding school. In handling the demonic mistakes of her students and her own missteps, Dr. Walden is forced to question and confront her own self-image. ''Publishers Weekly'' gave it a starred review, describing it as a "thoughtful exploration of privilege, power, and private school education." Critic Liz Bourke described it as a brilliant novel, "that marries the energy and verve and peril of the best of the fantasy genre with the understated, literary examination of interior and professional lives."

Awards and recognition

* Winner,

World Fantasy Award—Novella The World Fantasy Awards are given each year by the World Fantasy Convention for the best fantasy fiction published in English during the previous calendar year. The awards have been described by book critics such as ''The Guardian'' as a "presti ...

, 2020 * Winner, ''Astounding'' Award for Best New Writer, 2021 * Finalist,

Crawford Award The IAFA William L. Crawford Fantasy Award (short: Crawford Award) is a literary award given to a writer whose first fantasy book was published during the preceding calendar year. It's one of several awards presented by the International Associat ...

, 2020." *Shortlisted, Arthur C. Clarke Award, 2024 *Finalist,

Locus Award for Best First Novel The Locus Award for Best First Novel is one of the annual Locus Awards presented by the science fiction and fantasy magazine '' Locus''. Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar year. The award for Best Fir ...

, 2024 * Winner,

, 2024

Selected publications

* Greenhollow Duology ** ''Silver in the Wood'', (2019, Tor: ) ** ''Drowned Country'', (2020, Tor: ) * '' Some Desperate Glory,'' (2023, Orbit: ) * ''The Incandescent'', (2025, Tor: )

References

External links

* * Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British women science fiction and fantasy writers Hugo Award–winning writers John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer winners Living people University of Chicago alumni Writers from Hertfordshire Year of birth missing (living people) {{sf-writer-stub