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Note: Â In print, any of these variants on my name are fine: Mary Robinette, Kowal, or Mrs. Kowal. It should never appear as Mary, Robinette-Kowal or Mrs. Robinette Kowal. Robinette is part of my first name, not my maiden name.
Bios of varying length
25 Words
Hugo-winner Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of Apprehension and the Lady Astronaut series. She’s a puppeteer, host of the podcast Writing Excuses, and an audiobook narrator.
60 words
Mary Robinette Kowal is the USA Today Bestselling author of a dozen novels, including Apprehension and the Lady Astronaut series. A winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards, she is also a professional puppeteer and award-winning audiobook narrator. She co-hosts the Writing Excuses podcast, served as SFWA President, and has an asteroid named after her. Also, her cat talks.
140 words
Mary Robinette Kowal is the USA Today Bestselling author of the Lady Astronaut series and the Glamourist Histories. Her novel The Calculating Stars is one of the few works to win the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards in a single year. She is also a recipient of the Astounding Award for Best New Writer and multiple Hugo awards. A professional puppeteer for over twenty years, Kowal’s background in physical performance informs much of her approach to character in prose. She shares this craft expertise as a core cast member of the long-running, Hugo-winning podcast Writing Excuses. Kowal served as the President of SFWA and is an accomplished audiobook narrator. At home, she explores communication through a different lens with her cat, Elsie, who uses Augmentative Interspecies Communication buttons to “talk.” She also has an asteroid named after her.
210 words
Mary Robinette Kowal is the USA Today Bestselling author of twelve novels, including Apprehension, The Spare Man, and the Lady Astronaut series. Her novel The Calculating Stars is one of only eighteen works to achieve the “triple crown,” winning the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards in a single year. She is also a four-time Hugo winner, a recipient of the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, and a former President of SFWA.
Her storytelling is uniquely shaped by a twenty-year career as a professional puppeteer. Performing for Jim Henson Productions and LazyTown, she earned two UNIMA-USA Citations of Excellence—the highest honor in American puppetry. This background in physical performance informs the body language and characterization found in her prose.
Mary Robinette is a core cast member of the Hugo-winning podcast Writing Excuses and an acclaimed audiobook narrator for authors such as Neal Stephenson and Seanan McGuire. A collector of vintage manual typewriters, she lives with her husband Robert, their dog Guppy, and their cat Elsie, who uses Augmentative Interspecies Communication buttons to “talk.” She also has the distinct honor of having an asteroid, (52691) Maryrobinettek, named after her.
Long form bio
Mary Robinette Kowal is the USA Today Bestselling author of twelve novels, including Apprehension, The Spare Man, and the celebrated Lady Astronaut series. Her novel The Calculating Stars remains a landmark in the genre, being one of only a handful of works to achieve the “triple crown” of speculative fiction by winning the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards in a single year. A four-time Hugo winner and recipient of the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, she has consistently pushed the boundaries of science fiction and fantasy through both her novels and her extensive body of short fiction.
While her primary focus is fiction, her prose is uniquely informed by a twenty-year career as a professional puppeteer for both stage and screen, including work for Lazy Town, Jim Henson Productions, and others. She translates the mechanical principles of puppetry into her writing process to create compelling characters. This intersection of performance and craft has made her a mainstay of the Hugo-winning podcast Writing Excuses, where she helps authors navigate the complexities of storytelling.
This cross-disciplinary approach is evident throughout her diverse bibliography. Her debut series, The Glamourist Histories, reimagined the Regency era through the lens of “glamour,” a tactile form of magic that operates with the precision of a fine art. More recently, her Lady Astronaut universe—beginning with The Calculating Stars and The Fated Sky—combined meticulous historical research into the early space program with a poignant “what if” narrative following an asteroid strike in 1952. Her latest work, Apprehension, continues this trend of high-stakes, technically grounded storytelling, described as a suspenseful “Alfred Hitchcock in space” thriller that explores themes of family, political conspiracy, and survival on a distant world.
Beyond her creative work, Mary Robinette is a dedicated advocate for the writing community. She served as the President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) from 2019 to 2021, where she worked to expand the organization’s reach and support for creators across all mediums. Her expertise in performance also lends itself to audiobook narration which she describes as “puppetry, without the pain.” She has lent her voice to scores of titles, ranging from her own novels to works by authors such as John Scalzi, Seanan McGuire, and Neal Stephenson, earning multiple Golden Earphones Awards for her nuanced delivery.
Her technical interests extend to the tools of the trade as well; she is a well-known enthusiast and collector of vintage manual typewriters, often discussing the tactile connection between the machine and the rhythm of a story. This fascination with the mechanics of communication is a recurring theme in both her professional and personal life.
Mary Robinette lives with her husband, Robert, their dog Guppy, and Elsie, a cat who has gained a significant following for her use of Augmentative Interspecies Communication (AIC) buttons. Through this system, Elsie “talks” to her humans, expressing everything from a desire for treats to specific frustrations—a real-world exploration of language and intent that mirrors Mary Robinette’s career-long interest in how we convey meaning. Finally, her contributions to the field of science fiction have been literally written in the stars; she has the distinct honor of having an asteroid, (52691) Maryrobinettek, named in her honor.