Robert Jackson Bennett (born 1984) is an American 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 ...

Early life and education

Robert Jackson Bennett was born in

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

, Louisiana. He graduated from the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

with special honors in English in 2005, and settled down in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

Career

Bennett's debut as an author was the novel '' Mr. Shivers'' (2010). He went on to write '' The Company Man'' (2011), ''The Troupe'' (2012), and ''

American Elsewhere ''American Elsewhere'' is a 2013 science fiction- horror novel by Robert Jackson Bennett. Synopsis After the death of her estranged father, police officer Mona Bright learns that her deceased mother had left her a house in a town called Wink, ...

'' (2013). Bennett's fifth novel, ''

City of Stairs ''City of Stairs'' is a 2014 fantasy novel by Robert Jackson Bennett. The first in his " Divine Cities" trilogy, it was published by Broadway Books. Synopsis For centuries, the city-state of Bulikov used the magic of its patron deities to rule t ...

'' (2014), was the first of a fantasy trilogy, ''

The Divine Cities ''The Divine Cities'' is a trilogy of fantasy novels by the American writer Robert Jackson Bennett. It consists of the novels ''City of Stairs'' (published 2014), ''City of Blades'' (2016) and ''City of Miracles'' (2017). Synopsis The series is s ...

'', followed by ''

City of Blades ''City of Blades'' is a 2016 fantasy novel by Robert Jackson Bennett. It is the second novel in his Divine Cities trilogy. Synopsis Five years after the events of ''City of Stairs'', General Turyin Mulaghesh is called out of retirement so that ...

'' (2016) and ''City of Miracles'' (2017). ''The Divine Cities'' trilogy was a finalist for Best Series by 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 ...

in 2018, but lost to ''World of the Five Gods'' by

Lois McMaster Bujold Lois McMaster Bujold ( ; born November 2, 1949) is an American speculative fiction writer. She has won the Hugo Award for best novel four times, matching Robert A. Heinlein's record (not counting his Retro Hugos). Her novella '' The Mountains of ...

. In August 2018, Bennett published '' Foundryside'', the first installment of his new series, ''The Founders Trilogy''. That book was followed by '' Shorefall'' in 2020 and ''Locklands'' in 2022. In February 2024, Bennett published '' The Tainted Cup'', which was the first book in ''The Shadow of the Leviathan'' series and is a finalist for the 2025

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 ...

. The book was followed by ''A Drop of Corruption'' in 2025. Bennett has confirmed that a third book in the series is planned.

Awards and nominations

Bibliography

Standalone novels

*'' Mr. Shivers'' (2010;

Orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...

). *'' The Company Man'' (2011; Orbit). *''The Troupe'' (2012; Orbit). * ''

'' (2013; Orbit).

The ''Divine Cities'' trilogy

# ''

'' (2014;

Broadway Books Broadway Books is an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.. It released its first list in Fall 1996. Broadway was founded in 1995 as a unit of Bantam Doubleday Dell, a unit of Bertelsmann. Bertelsmann acquire ...

) # ''

'' (2016) # ''City of Miracles'' (2017)

The ''Founders'' trilogy

# '' Foundryside'' (2018) # '' Shorefall'' (2020) # ''Locklands'' (2022)

The ''Shadow of the Leviathan'' series

# '' The Tainted Cup'' (2024) # '' A Drop of Corruption'' (2025)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Robert Jackson 1984 births Living people 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American novelists American fantasy writers American male novelists Edgar Award winners Novelists from Louisiana Novelists from Texas University of Texas at Austin alumni Writers from Austin, Texas Writers from Baton Rouge, Louisiana