Nisi Shawl

Nisi Shawl Nisi Shawl (they/them) is the multiple award-winning author, co-author, and editor of over a dozen books of speculative fiction and related nonfiction, including the standard text on diverse representation, Writing the Other: A Practical Approach. Shawl’s best-known fiction is the 2016 Nebula Award finalist novel Everfair and its 2024 sequel Kinning. Additional recent books include the 2023 Middle Grade historical fantasy novel Speculation, the 2024 Beat-era fantasy The Day and Night Books of Mardou Fox, and the 2025 space opera Making Amends. Editing credits include the New Suns anthology series and Strange Matings: Science Fiction, Feminism, African American Voices, and Octavia E. Butler. They’ve spoken at Duke University, Spelman College and many other institutions. For over two decades they have served on the boards of the Clarion West Writers Workshop and of the Carl Brandon Society, a nonprofit supporting the presence of people of color in fantastic literature.