Aliette de Bodard

Born in 1982, Aliette de Bodard is a French-American writer recognized for her contributions to speculative fiction. Her career began with short stories, leading to early recognition such as winning the Writers of the Future contest and being a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award. De Bodard has since garnered numerous prestigious awards, including the British Fantasy Award, BSFA Award, Ignyte Award, Locus Award, and multiple Nebula Awards for her short fiction, novellas, and novels.

Her writing often features alternate history settings, frequently incorporating elements of Aztec or pre-communist Vietnamese cultures. De Bodard has spoken about her interest in exploring sensory details, particularly taste, within science fiction, aiming to create richer, less sanitized future worlds. She also focuses on depicting nuanced parent-child relationships, especially mother-daughter dynamics, and characters who have experienced the loss of a mother, themes not always prominently featured in the genre.

Aliette de Bodard's prolific career in speculative fiction has been marked by significant critical acclaim and a distinctive approach to world-building. She first published short fiction in 2006 and quickly gained recognition, winning the Writers of the Future award in 2007 and becoming a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2009. Her stories have appeared in prominent genre publications such as Asimov's, Realms of Fantasy, and Apex Magazine. De Bodard's work has been honored with numerous awards, including multiple Nebula Awards for her novellas and short stories like "Immersion" and "The Tea Master and the Detective." Her novel "The House of Shattered Wings," which envisions a post-apocalyptic Paris influenced by fallen angels, earned her the BSFA Award for Best Novel. Notably, she achieved a unique milestone by winning both the BSFA Award for Best Short Story and Best Novel in the same year for her 2015 works.

A hallmark of de Bodard's writing is the integration of diverse cultural influences into speculative settings. Many of her narratives are set in alternate realities where Aztec or pre-communist Vietnamese societies play a dominant role, offering readers unique perspectives on history and culture. Beyond cultural tapestry, de Bodard delves into the intricacies of human relationships. She has expressed a particular interest in portraying parent-child dynamics, especially mother-daughter relationships, aiming to present them with greater depth and complexity than often seen in science fiction. Furthermore, she has noted a deliberate effort to include characters who have lost their mothers, reflecting on the emotional impact of such experiences and their underrepresentation in the genre. De Bodard also emphasizes the importance of sensory experience, particularly taste, in crafting believable and immersive future worlds, suggesting that science fiction often overlooks this dimension.

“taste is largely underutilised sensorily in science-fiction... future worlds in SF have a tendency to be sanitised.”

“parent-child relationships, and very often a mother-daughter relationship, because that's a thing you don't often see, aside from the controlling mother and the estranged mother. You don't even often see characters with dead mothers – the mothers tend to just fade out.”