“Ken Liu’s The Grace of Kings — a magnificent fantasy epic. Liu is building a dynasty.” — Amal El-Mohtar — NPR Books

Ken Liu is an American author of speculative fiction. A winner of the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy awards for his fiction, he has also won top genre honors abroad in Japan, Spain, and France.

Liu’s most characteristic work is the four-volume epic fantasy series, THE DANDELION DYNASTY, in which engineers, not wizards, are the heroes of a silkpunk world on the verge of modernity. His debut collection of short fiction, THE PAPER MENAGERIE AND OTHER STORIES, has been published in more than a dozen languages. A second collection, THE HIDDEN GIRL AND OTHER STORIES, followed. He also penned the Star Wars novel, THE LEGENDS OF LUKE SKYWALKER.

He’s often involved in media adaptations of his work. Recent projects include “The Message,” under development by 21 Laps and FilmNation Entertainment; “Good Hunting,” adapted as an episode in season one of Netflix’s breakout adult animated series Love, Death + Robots; and AMC’s Pantheon, with Craig Silverstein as executive producer, adapted from an interconnected series of Liu’s short stories.

Prior to becoming a full-time writer, Liu worked as a software engineer, corporate lawyer, and litigation consultant. He frequently speaks at conferences and universities on a variety of topics, including futurism, machine-augmented creativity, history of technology, bookmaking, and the mathematics of origami.

Ken's Featured Titles

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The Artistic Machine: What Can the Camera in the 19th Century Tell Us About the Future of AI and Creativity?

Using a study of the impact of the camera on 19th-century art, this talk devises a framework for productively speculating on the future of AI in art. Neither groundlessly optimistic nor hyperbolically pessimistic, Ken highlights some concrete ways that AI may change how we think about and create art, and points out deeply ingrained problems that must be solved before the full potential of the “artistic machine” can be unlocked.

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The Future Is Implausible: Why Science Fiction Always Gets the Future Wrong (And Why That’s a Good Thing)

Through a series of images drawn by artists from the past imagining life in the future, Ken asks the audience to think through provocative questions about the science fictional imagination. What do SF authors tend to get wrong about the future? What do they tend to get right? Is SF about “predicting” the future? Just why is the future so difficult to pin down?

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The Future of Work

What will work be like in the age of automation? Are careers in fields like finance, law, medicine, and the arts under threat as much as those in manufacturing? Is it possible, or even desirable, to try to “save jobs”? Or do we need a new definition of work that accounts for the values we actually hold dear? This talk will give the audience the facts about automation and invite them to think deeper about the consequences of current technological advancement.

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Tell the Story You Want to Tell: The Connection Between Literature and “Real Life”

What is the point of telling and reading stories? Through a series of excerpts from popular children’s books, Ken makes the argument that stories are the means by which we embody, affirm, and pass on our deepest values. Literature is serves as the foil and the model for that most important story of all: the journey in which we narrate ourselves into being.

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The Bookmaking Species: The Evolving Form of the Book

A presentation on the history of books as artifacts and how the kinds of stories we tell are influenced by the media through which they’re transmitted. Ken will also deliver a topical reading from his fiction, followed by Q&A.

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Three Times My Career Almost Ended: How To Fail Smarter As A Writer

Join award-winning and bestselling author Ken Liu as he recounts three times when his writing career almost ended and what lessons he took away from them.

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Speaking Tools: How To Tell Compelling Stories About Technology

This workshop will train you to see and think about “technology”—both fictional and nonfictional forms—in new ways that help you tell compelling stories. We’ll examine a broader definition of technology and take on the perspective of a worldbuilder, someone who must conjure a novel and concrete vision for others. Writing exercises will allow participants to put these new ways of seeing and thinking into practice. In addition to fiction writers, this course is also suitable for journalists, technologists, gamemasters, sales and marketing staff, activists—anyone who wants to communicate more effectively about technology. Intended for writers of all levels. Please come to the workshop with a piece of technology (existing or invented) in mind you’d like to feature in a story.

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Ten Tips for Building a More Compelling World

Award-winning and bestselling author Ken Liu presents practical advice and inspirational perspectives on how to build more compelling SFF worlds. Useful for both novelists and short story writers.

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Ken’s Talks Link

Ken’s Adaptations Link

Ken’s Events Link

Honors, Awards & Recognition

2017 Locus Award for Best Collection, THE PAPER MENAGERIE AND OTHER STORIES
2017 Premio Ignotus for Best Foreign Story, “The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species”
2017 Seiun Award for Best Foreign Story, “Simulacrum”
2016 Locus Award for Best First Novel, THE GRACE OF KINGS
2016 Premio Ignotus for Best Foreign Story, “The Algorithms for Love”
2016 Grand prix de l’Imaginaire, THE PAPER MENAGERIE (French collection)
2015 Sidewise Award for Alternate History, “The Long Haul: From the Annals of Transportation, The Pacific Monthly, May 2009”
2014 Premio Ignotus for Best Foreign Story, “The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary”
2014 Seiun Award for Best Foreign Story, “The Paper Menagerie”
2013 Hugo Award for Best Short Story, “Mono no aware”
2013 Premio Ignotus for Best Foreign Story, “The Paper Menagerie”
2012 World Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction, “The Paper Menagerie”
2012 Hugo Award for Best Short Story, “The Paper Menagerie”
2012 Seiun Award for Best Foreign Story, “Good Hunting”
2011 Nebula Award for Best Short Story, winner, “The Paper Menagerie”

Media Kit

By clicking the link below you will be directed to a Google Docs Folder
where you can download author photos and cover images.

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