Vajra Chandrasekera
Vajra Chandrasekera | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Chandrasekera, 2023 | |
| Born | August 17, 1979 |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Language | English |
| Genre | fantasy, science fiction, novel, short story, poetry |
| Notable awards | Nebula Award for Best Novel (2023) Locus Award for Best First Novel (2024) Ursula K. Le Guin Prize (2025) |
| Website | |
| vajra | |
Vajra Chandrasekera is a Sri Lankan author known for his fantasy and science fiction novels and short stories. His debut novel, The Saint of Bright Doors, won the 2023 Nebula Award for Best Novel[1] and the 2024 Locus Award for Best First Novel.[2]
Early life and background
[edit]Chandrasekera was born and raised in Colombo, Sri Lanka. His father was a writer and civil servant.[3] Chandrasekera's first job at the age of eighteen was "writing fake product reviews of computer hardware." He later became a non-fiction editor in Sri Lanka.[3]
Career
[edit]In 2012, he published the poem "Jörmungandr" in Ideomancer. He followed this with the 2013 short stories "Pockets Full of Stones" in Clarkesworld Magazine and "The Jackal's Wedding" for Apex Magazine.[4][5][6] His short story "The Translator, at Low Tide" was a finalist for the 2021 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award.[7]
In 2023, Chandrasekera published his first novel, The Saint of Bright Doors.[8] Amal El-Mohtar, in a review for The New York Times, described the novel as the best book of the year.[9] Jake Casella Brookins, for Locus, described the book as "truly superb" with rich cityscape details and deep investigations of the writing of history and the desire for revolution.[10] Both reviewers noted the novel's stretching of the fantasy genre.[9][10] Publishers Weekly described the book as "lyrical but sluggish."[11]
In 2024, Chandrasekera published the novel Rakesfall.[8] It focuses on the reincarnations of Annelid and Leveret through a set of tales in a mixture of perspectives, genres, and plotlines. The book begins with the friends' youth during the fallout of the Sri Lankan civil war.[12] Madeline Schultz, for the Chicago Review of Books, praised the book's unique exploration of colonialism and imperialism, but critiqued the descriptions and disorientation between episodes.[13] New York Times and Publishers Weekly reviews noted the book's challenge and payoff, with Publishers Weekly praising the book's lyricism.[8][12] Ian Mond, for Locus, said the book's many sections could leave a reader "bewildered," but the ideas and exploration of Sri Lankan colonial history compelled readers forward.[14] Helena Ramsaroop, for Strange Horizons, wrote that Rakesfall compellingly shows grief and hope in the pursuit of liberation.[15]
Chandrasekera has placed himself in the New Wave, New Weird, and slipstream literary movements, as well as the blended-genre term science fantasy.[5][16] He is the author of more than 50 short stories, as well as numerous essays and reviews.[3][17]
He was one of the 2025-2026 Fellows of the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, where he spent time working on his third novel.[18]
Awards and reception
[edit]Chandrasekera's first novel, The Saint of Bright Doors, won the 2023 Nebula Award for Best Novel, the 2024 Locus Award for Best First Novel, the 2024 Crawford Award, and the 2024 Ignyte Award for Outstanding Novel – Adult. The book was shortlisted for the 2024 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 2024 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize, and the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for Speculative Fiction. It was listed as a New York Times Notable Book, Editors’ Pick, and Best Fantasy of 2023.[19][20]
Chandrasekera was an editor for the speculative fiction magazine Strange Horizons during the six consecutive years that it was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine.[3]
His second novel, Rakesfall, won the 2024 Otherwise Award and the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize. The novel was also nominated for the 2024 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 2025 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. It was a New York Times Notable Book of 2024.[21][22] It was featured on "The Best Sci-Fi Books of 2024" by Esquire and "The Best Books of 2024" by NPR.[23][24]
| Year[25] | Title | Award | Category | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | The Saint of Bright Doors | Nebula Award | Novel | Won | [1][26] |
| 2024 | Locus Award | First Novel | Won | [2] | |
| Crawford Award | — | Won | [27] | ||
| Ignyte Award | Novel – Adult | Won | [28] | ||
| Hugo Award | Novel | Finalist | [29] | ||
| Ursula K. Le Guin Prize | — | Finalist | [30] | ||
| Lambda Literary Award | Speculative Fiction | Finalist | [31] | ||
| Rakesfall | Nebula Award | Novel | Finalist | [32] | |
| Otherwise Award | — | Won | [33] | ||
| 2025 | Locus Award | Science Fiction Novel | Finalist | [34] | |
| Ursula K. Le Guin Prize | — | Won | [35] |
Bibliography
[edit] |
Novels
[edit]- The Saint of Bright Doors. Tor Books. 2023. ISBN 9781250847386.
- Rakesfall. Tor Books/Tordotcom. 2024. ISBN 9781250847683.
Short fiction
[edit]- "Pockets Full of Stones", Clarkesworld Magazine (July 2013)[4]
- "The Jackal's Wedding", Apex Magazine (November 2013)[6]
- "On Being Undone by a Light Breeze", Lackington’s (May 2014)[3]
- "Documentary", Lightspeed Magazine (March 2015)[3]
- "Sweet Marrow", Strange Horizons (July 2016)[36]
- "Applied Cenotaphics in the Long, Long Longitudes", Strange Horizons (September 2016)[3]
- “Apologia“, The Digital Aesthete (September 2019)[37]
- "The Translator, at Low Tide", Clarkesworld Magazine (May 2020)[38]
- “Peristalsis“, Deadlands #1 (May 2021)[39]
- “Theses on the Scientific Management of Goetic Labour“, Uncanny Magazine (July 2023)[40]
- "The Mercer Seat", The Digital Aesthete (December 2023)[41]
- "Death and Liquidity Under the New Moon", Sunday Morning Transport (July 2025)
Anthology appearances
[edit]- Keffy R.M. Kehrli, ed. (August 2017). "Ulder". GlitterShip Year One. CreateSpace. ISBN 9781973799535.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: year (link) - Bogi Takács, ed. (October 2017). "Rhizomatic Diplomacy". Transcendent 2: The Year's Best Transgender Speculative Fiction. Lethe Press. ISBN 9781590216620.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: year (link) - Nicole B. Jacobson, ed. (November 2018). "The Dreaded Name: Thirty-Nine Crowdsourced Annotations on an Anonymous Manifesto Promoting Tactical Human Extinction". The Internet Is Where the Robots Live Now. Paper Dog Books. ISBN 9781732863705.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: year (link) - Angie Dell; Joey Eschrich, eds. (January 2019). "Half-Eaten Cities". Everything Change: An Anthology of Climate Fiction, Volume II. Center for Science and the Imagination, Arizona State University. ISBN 9780999590270.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: year (link) - Lincoln Michel; Nadxieli Nieto, eds. (October 2020). "Joy, and Other Poisons". Tiny Nightmares: Very Short Stories of Horror. Catapult. ISBN 9781948226622.
- Tarun K. Saint, ed. (September 2021). "The Maker of Memorials". The Gollancz Book of South Asian Science Fiction: Volume 2. Hachette India. ISBN 9789391028626.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: year (link) - Neil Clarke, ed. (January 2022). "The Translator, at Low Tide". The Best Science Fiction of the Year - Volume 6. Night Shade Books. ISBN 9781949102536.
- Tarun K. Saint; Francesco Verso, eds. (January 2024). "Half-Eaten Cities". Ecoceanic: Southern Flows. Future Fiction. ISBN 9788832077919.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: year (link) - Indrapramit Das, ed. (October 2024). "The Limner Wrings His Hands". Deep Dream Science Fiction Exploring the Future of Art. MIT Press. ISBN 9780262549080.
Anthology (as editor)
[edit]- Afterlives: The Year's Best Death Fiction 2023. Psychopomp. 2024. ISBN 9798891160064.
References
[edit]- ^ a b "2023 Nebula Awards Winners". locusmag.com. Retrieved 22 April 2026.
- ^ a b "2024 Locus Awards Winners". locusmag.com. Retrieved 22 April 2026.
- ^ a b c d e f g Chandrasekera, Vajra (June 2023). "Decades of Aspiration: A Conversation with Vajra Chandrasekera". Clarkesworld Magazine (Interview). No. 201. Interviewed by Arley Sorg.
- ^ a b "Pockets Full of Stones". Clarkesworld Magazine. Retrieved 22 April 2026.
- ^ a b Myman, Francesca (2024-12-09). "Vajra Chandrasekera: The Mythic and the Modern". Locus Online. Retrieved 2025-08-30.
- ^ a b "The Jackal's Wedding". Apex Book Company. Retrieved 22 April 2026.
- ^ "2021 Sturgeon Award Finalists". Locus Magazine. Retrieved 23 April 2026.
- ^ a b c El-Mohtar, Amal (2024-08-21). "New Speculative Fiction About the Villainous Power of Universities". The New York Times. Retrieved 2025-08-30.
- ^ a b El-Mohtar, Amal (2023-12-01). "What's Behind That Door?". New York Times. Retrieved 2025-08-30.
- ^ a b Casella Brookins, Jake (2023-10-11). "Jake Casella Brookins Reviews The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera". Locus Online. Retrieved 2025-08-30.
- ^ "The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2025-08-30.
- ^ a b "Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2025-08-30.
- ^ Schultz, Madeline (2024-07-01). "Whirlwind Exploration in 'Rakesfall'". Chicago Review of Books. Retrieved 2025-08-30.
- ^ Mond, Ian (2024-07-10). "Ian Mond Reviews Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera". Locus Online. Retrieved 2025-08-30.
- ^ Ramsaroop, Helena (2025-02-17). "Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera". Strange Horizons. Retrieved 2025-08-30.
- ^ Grifka Wander, Misha (19 June 2024). "At the Periphery of the Grand Narrative: Vajra Chandrasekera on Rakesfall". Ancillary Review of Books. Retrieved 28 November 2024.
- ^ "Vajra Chandrasekera in Archives". Strange Horizons. Retrieved 2026-05-31.
- ^ "Meet the 2025–2026 Fellows of the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers". New York Public Library. Retrieved May 11, 2026.
- ^ "The Saint of Bright Doors". Tor Publishing Group. Retrieved 23 April 2026.
- ^ "100 Notable books of 2023". New York Times.
- ^ "100 Notable books of 2024". New York Times. Retrieved 22 April 2026.
- ^ "NYT Notable Books of 2024". locusmag.com. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
- ^ "The Best Sci-Fi Books of 2024". Esquire. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
- ^ "NPR's Best Books of 2024". locusmag.com. Retrieved 2026-06-17.
- ^ year based on official award year
- ^ "Vajra Chandrasekera". Nebula Awards. Retrieved 2026-03-01.
- ^ "Chandrasekera Wins Crawford". Locus. March 4, 2024.
- ^ "2024 Ignyte Award Winners". Locus. 8 November 2024. Retrieved 29 May 2025.
- ^ "2024 Hugo Awards". The Hugo Award. 2024-02-04. Retrieved 2026-03-01.
- ^ "The 2024 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize in Fiction". ursulakleguin.com. Retrieved 22 April 2026.
- ^ "Announcing the Winners of the 2024 Lammy Awards". lambdaliterary.com. Retrieved June 1, 2026.
- ^ "2024 Nebula Awards Winners". locusmag.com. Retrieved 22 April 2026.
- ^ Hartman, Jed (2025-05-06). "Announcing the 2024 Otherwise Award winners!". Otherwise Award. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
- ^ "2025 Locus Awards Winners". Locus Online. 2025-06-21. Retrieved 2025-08-30.
- ^ "2025 Ursula K Le Guin Prize for Fiction". ursulakleguin.com. Retrieved May 11, 2026
- ^ "Sweet Marrow". Strange Horizons. Retrieved 23 April 2026.
- ^ "Apologia". future-sf.com. Retrieved 25 April 2026.
- ^ "The Translator, at Low Tide". Clarkesworld Magazine. Retrieved 23 April 2026.
- ^ "Peristalsis by Vajra Chandrasekera". psychopomp.com. Retrieved 25 April 2026.
- ^ "Theses on the Scientific Management of Goetic Labour". Uncanny Magazine. Retrieved 25 April 2026.
- ^ "The Mercer Seat". future-sf.com. Retrieved 25 April 2026.
External links
[edit]- Official website
- Machell, James. "Chandrasekera, Vajra". The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.