Jeannette Ng () is a British fantasy writer best known for her 2017 novel '' Under the Pendulum Sun'', for which she won the Sydney J Bounds Award for Best Newcomer at the 2018

British Fantasy Award The British Fantasy Awards (BFA) are awarded annually by the British Fantasy Society (BFS), first in 1976. Prior to that they were known as The August Derleth Fantasy Awards (see August Derleth Award). First awarded in 1972 (to ''The Knight of ...

s. For that work, she was also the winner of the 2019 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, which, largely due to her acceptance speech, was shortly thereafter renamed to the ''Astounding'' Award for Best New Writer. In 2020, she won the

Hugo Award for Best Related Work The Hugo Award for Best Related Work is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for primarily non-fiction works related to science fiction or fantasy, published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The Hugo Awards have bee ...

for that acceptance speech.

Life and education

Ng was born in Hong Kong, and used her 2019 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer acceptance speech to pay tribute to the Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protestors. In 2022 she was among the Hugo winners who signed an open letter calling for revocation of the Chinese hosting of the 2023

81st World Science Fiction Convention The 81st World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known as 2023 Chengdu Worldcon, was held on 18–22 October 2023 in Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The co-chairs were Chen Shi, Ben Yalow, and Hongwei He. Some fans and authors criticized the ...

. She studied at

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

, earning an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in Medieval and Renaissance Studies. She lives in

Durham, England Durham ( , locally ) is a cathedral city and civil parish in the county of County Durham, Durham, England. It is the county town and contains the headquarters of Durham County Council, the unitary authority which governs the district of Count ...

. Ng is a nonbinary woman and uses she or they pronouns. In 2025, Ng and

Lauren Beukes Lauren Beukes (born 5 June 1976) is a South African novelist, short story writer, journalist and Screenwriter, television scriptwriter. Early life Lauren Beukes was born 5 June 1976. She grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa. She attended Roede ...

set up "The Genre Creators for Trans Rights Auction", with authors including Olivie Blake,

Patrick Rothfuss Patrick James Rothfuss (born June 6, 1973) is an American author. He is best known for his highly acclaimed series '' The Kingkiller Chronicle'', beginning with Rothfuss' debut novel, '' The Name of the Wind'' (2007), which won several awards, ...

, Ali Hazelwood and

Adrian Tchaikovsky Adrian Czajkowski (spelt as Adrian Tchaikovsky for his books; born June 1972) is a British fantasy and science fiction author. He is best known for his series ''Shadows of the Apt'', and for his Hugo Award–winning '' Children of Time'' series ...

, as well as the estate of

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...

, donating items to raise money for the

Good Law Project The Good Law Project is a United Kingdom-based political non-profit company. Founded by Jolyon Maugham, the Good Law Project states that its mission is to achieve change and government accountability through the law. History The Good Law Projec ...

and

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

's Triangle Project to work for

trans rights The legal status of transgender people varies greatly around the world. Some countries have enacted laws protecting the rights of transgender individuals, but others have criminalized their gender identity or expression. In many cases, transg ...

in the wake of both the

UK Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (initialism: UKSC) is the final court of appeal for all civil cases in the United Kingdom and all criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as some limited criminal cases ...

ruling on the meaning of sex in the Equality Act 2010, and simultaneous funding pressures on South African

queer rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notab ...

organisations.

Career

Publications

Ng's 2017 debut novel ''Under the Pendulum Sun'' (published by

Angry Robot Angry Robot is a British-based publishing house dedicated to producing modern adult science fiction and fantasy, or as they call it “SF, F and WTF?!?”. The Nottingham-based company first released books in the UK in 2009, and since September 2 ...

) concerns a fantastical journey in gothic mid-19th century England, and was shortlisted for ''Starburst'''s 2017 Brave New Words award and the 2018 Robert Holdstock Award for Best Fantasy Novel at the

British Fantasy Awards The British Fantasy Awards (BFA) are awarded annually by the British Fantasy Society (BFS), first in 1976. Prior to that they were known as The August Derleth Fantasy Awards (see August Derleth Award). First awarded in 1972 (to ''The Knight of ...

. It was named by Syfy as one of the "10 Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of 2017" and included in Adam Roberts' list of "The best science fiction and fantasy of 2017" in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' and Jeff Somers' list of "50 of the Greatest Science Fiction & Fantasy Debut Novels Ever Written." Ng won the Sydney J Bounds Award for Best Newcomer at the 2018

s for ''Under the Pendulum Sun'', and was a 2018 finalist and 2019 winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, announced as part of 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 ...

. Her story "How the Tree of Wishes Gained its Carapace of Plastic" is included in the anthology ''Not So Stories'', published April 2018 by

Abaddon Books Abaddon Books is a British publishing imprint, founded in 2006. It is part of the Rebellion group of companies, along with publishing companies Solaris Books, ''2000 AD'', 2000 AD Graphic Novels, and Cubicle 7. Abaddon publishes " shared ...

, and was described by ''Starburst'' as "a tour de force of the author's talents." Other short stories have been published in ''Mythic Delirium'' and ''Shoreline of Infinity'' magazines.

John W. Campbell Award and acceptance speech

In 2019, Ng won the

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer The ''Astounding'' Award for Best New Writer (formerly the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer) is given annually to the best new writer whose first professional work of science fiction or fantasy was published within the two previous ...

, awarded during 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 ...

ceremony at the 77th World Science Fiction Convention. As part of her acceptance speech, she referred to the award's namesake

John W. Campbell John Wood Campbell Jr. (June 8, 1910 – July 11, 1971) was an American science fiction writer and editor. He was editor of ''Astounding Science Fiction'' (later called ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'') from late 1937 until his death and wa ...

as "a fucking fascist", sparking debate in the science fiction and fantasy community. On 27 August, the editor of award sponsors ''

Analog Science Fiction and Fact ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'' is an American science fiction magazine published under various titles since 1930. Originally titled ''Astounding Stories of Super-Science'', the first issue was dated January 1930, published by William Cla ...

'' announced that the award would be renamed the ''Astounding'' Award for Best New Writer. In July 2020, Ng was awarded the

for her 2019 John W. Campbell Award acceptance speech. In her acceptance speech for this award (delivered by video due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

), she said that "pulling down memorials to dead racists is not the erasing of history, it is how we make history". She also said that "Last time I gave a speech at WorldCon, it was literally hours after a huge march in Hong Kong, my most cyberpunk of cities. Since then, things have gotten worse." "The tactics used to marginalise us, the tear gas used against us, it is the same everywhere. And we defeat it in the same way. And so our coming together is more important than ever before. To write a future of joy and hope and change." "Now is the time. Now is always the time. Free Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Time."

Awards

Bibliography

Novels

Short fiction

Essays

* "Textile Arts Are Worldbuilding, Too" in ''Lost Transmissions: The Secret History of Science Fiction and Fantasy'' (2019), ed. Desirina Boskovich * "As You Know, Bob...", in ''

Uncanny Magazine ''Uncanny Magazine'' is an American science fiction magazine, science fiction and Fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy online magazine founded by publishing editors Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas. History First issued in 2014, the pu ...

'' (November–December 2019) * "2019 John W. Campbell Award Acceptance Speech" (2020) * "The History and Politics of Wuxia" in ''

Tor.com ''Reactor'', formerly ''Tor.com'', is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on specul ...

'' (2019) * "She Is Sword, and She Is Sorcery: Womanhood in The Witcher and The Wheel of Time" in ''Uncanny Magazine'' (July–August 2022)

Notes

References

External links

* *
Profile
at

Maelstromic Insight: Thoughts and Theories on Game Design for Live Roleplay

John W Campbell Award acceptance speech
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ng, Jeannette Living people 21st-century Hong Kong women writers Hong Kong writers Hong Kong novelists Chinese women novelists Hong Kong LGBTQ novelists Non-binary novelists Writers of Gothic fiction British women science fiction and fantasy writers British fantasy writers British women novelists British women short story writers 21st-century British women writers 21st-century British novelists 21st-century British short story writers Alumni of Grey College, Durham Year of birth missing (living people) Hugo Award–winning writers John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer winners British non-binary writers