Library to Host Award-Winning Sci Fi author

The NW Author Speakers Series will host Washington science fiction and fantasy writer E. Lily Yu for a talk at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 18. At the author’s request this will be an in-person only event at the library; the presentation will not be recorded or livestreamed.

Yu received the Washington State Book Award for Fiction in 2022, the Artist Trust LaSalle Storyteller Award in 2017 and the Astounding Award for Best New Writer in 2012. Her stories have been finalists for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Sturgeon and World Fantasy Awards.

Yu’s debut novel “On Fragile Waves” was listed in the New York Times Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2021 and the Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2021. It is the story of Firuzeh, a young girl whose family flees war-torn Afghanistan for greater opportunities in Australia. Firuzeh finds hope and comfort in the fairy tales her parents spin about life in Australia, but eventually has to find a way to deal with the reality of life as an immigrant.

Critics have described “On Fragile Waves” as a “knockout,” an “exquisite and unusual magic realistic debut” and a book that “will enchant readers of both literary fiction and fantasy.”

Yu’s debut short story collection, “Jewel Box: Stories,” also met with critical acclaim, with critics describing the 22 stories in the collection as “mini-masterpieces.”

The stories, a mix of science fiction and fantastical tales, include a Muslim businessman who doesn’t appreciate the glories offered to him by an angel; a roadside lamp that declares its love for a handsome human; a cyberpunk retelling of a Greek myth; a woman obsessed with staircases; and other stories told in what one critic has called “an utterly unique voice—poetical yet clear-eyed, hard-nosed yet romantic.”

Yu’s forthcoming book, “Break, Blow, Burn & Make: A Writer’s Thought on Creation” is a guide to creation and creativity.