Gareth L. Powell is a prolific author and editor from the United Kingdom. He has twice won the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel and has been a finalist for many others.
Born in Bristol, he was fortunate to count Diana Wynne Jones and Helen Dunmore as early mentors, and has co-written stories with Peter F. Hamilton and Aliette de Bodard. He has also presented workshops, panels, and guest lectures on creative writing at literary festivals, universities, and colleges in the UK, Europe, and the USA.
He has two children and is married to the American author Jendia Gammon, with whom he runs Stars and Sabers Publishing, and is represented in all professional matters by literary agent Lucienne Diver at The Knight Agency.
.
.
Awards and Nominations
- 2024 Premios Ignotus – Foreign Short Novel – Light Chaser (finalist)
- 2023 BSFA Awards – Best Novel – Descendant Machine (finalist)
- 2023 Premio Italia – International SF Novel – Light Chaser (finalist)
- 2023 Canopus Awards – Published Long-Form Fiction – Light Chaser (finalist)
- 2022 BSFA Awards – Best Novel –Stars and Bones (finalist)
- 2021 BSFA Awards – Best Shorter Fiction – Light Chaser (finalist)
- 2021 Seiun Awards – Best Translated Novel – Embers of War (finalist)
- 2020 BSFA Awards – Best Novel – Light of Impossible Stars (finalist)
- 2020 British Fantasy Awards – Best Novella – Ragged Alice (finalist)
- 2020 Locus Awards – Best SF Novel – Fleet of Knives (finalist)
- 2019 BSFA Awards – Best Novel – Fleet of Knives (finalist)
- 2019 BSFA Awards – Best Shorter Fiction – Ragged Alice (finalist)
- 2019 BSFA Awards – Best Non-fiction – About Writing (finalist)
- 2019 Locus Awards – Best SF Novel – Embers of War (finalist)
- 2018 BSFA Award – Best Novel – Embers of War (winner)
- 2016 Seiun Awards – Best Translated Novel – Ack-Ack Macaque (finalist)
- 2015 BSFA Awards – Best Short Fiction – ‘Ride The Blue Horse’ (finalist)
- 2013 BSFA Award – Best Novel – Ack-Ack Macaque (winner)
Praise
“On my must-read list.” – Ann Leckie
“The ideas fizz off the page.” – The Guardian
“Current leader of the British space-opera pack.” – The Morning Star
“One of our best modern SF writers.” – Adrian Tchaikovsky
“Powell understands and adeptly utilises genre fiction’s capacity to combine everyday qualities of friendship, responsibility, collaboration and self-sacrifice … there is also a slightly offbeat, quirky side to his writing which underpins his popularity” – Nick Hubble
“When you have an imagination like Gareth Powell’s, you must write or paint or otherwise vent that imagination through art so your head won’t explode.” – New York Journal of Books
“Grittily poetic.” – Locus Magazine
“A masterful writer.” – Jonathan Maberry
“One of the most consistently entertaining UK SF writers” – Matthew Cavanagh
“A creative and literate space opera author.” – Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review
.
.
.
.