Author Biography and Bibliography

Nancy Kress is the author of eighteen books: three fantasy novels, seven SF novels, two thrillers, three collections of short stories, one YA novel, and two books on writing fiction. She is perhaps best known for the "Sleepless" trilogy, which began with Beggars in Spain. The novel was based on a Nebula- and Hugo-winning novella of the same name; the series then continued with Beggars and Choosers and Beggars Ride. The trilogy explores questions of genetic engineering, social structure, and what society's "haves" owe its "have-nots." In 1996 Kress temporarily switched genres to write Oaths and Miracles, a thriller about Mafia penetration of the biotech industry. This was followed in 1998 by Stinger, about the introduction of a genetically-engineered and very nasty form of malaria into Maryland. Her most recents books are Yanked!, a YA time-travel novel, and Beaker's Dozen, a well-received collection of short stories. Just out is a new novel, Probability Moon. Like much of Kress's fiction, this novel is concerned with the genetic foundations of human behavior. Unlike recent work, however, Probability Moon takes place off-world, and includes such grand old SF tropes as aliens and a space war.

Kress's short fiction has appeared in all the usual places. She has won three Nebulas: in 1985 for "Out of All Them Bright Stars," in 1991 for the novella version of "Beggars in Spain" (which also won a Hugo), and in 1998 for "The Flowers of Aulit Prison." She has also lost over a dozen of these awards. Her work has been translated into Swedish, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Croatian, Lithuanian, Romanian, Japanese, and Russian.

In addition to writing fiction, Kress regularly teaches at various places, including Clarions East (University of Michigan) and West (Seattle). She has also taught summer writing conferences in Cleveland, Ohio; Rochester, New York; and Juneau, Alaska. She is the monthly "Fiction" columnist for Writer's Digest magazine, which she regards as a sort of extension of teaching. In a former life she was a copywriter for Xerox, Bausch & Lomb, and various other corporations. She now lives in Maryland with her husband, Charles Sheffield, who also writes science fiction.





Photograph by Elizabeth Sheffield.