Naomi Novik

American author (born 1973)

Naomi Novik (born 1973) is an American author of speculative fiction. She is known for the Temeraire series (2006–2016), an alternate history of the Napoleonic Wars involving dragons, and her Scholomance fantasy series (2020–2022). Her standalone fantasy novels Uprooted (2015) and Spinning Silver (2018) were inspired by Polish folklore and the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale respectively. Novik has won many awards for her work, including the Alex, Audie, British Fantasy, Locus, Mythopoeic and Nebula Awards.

Novik grew up in Roslyn Heights on Long Island. She is a second generation American; her father's family were Lithuanian Jews, and her mother's family were Polish Catholics. Displaying an interest in reading at a young age, she read The Lord of the Rings at age six, and developed a love for Jane Austen soon afterward. She participated in the design and development of the computer game Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide, until she discovered that she preferred writing over game design.

Novik's first novel, His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire in the UK) is the first novel in the Temeraire series, an alternate history of the Napoleonic Wars in a "Flintlock Fantasy" world where dragons are abundant and are used in aerial combat. His Majesty's Dragon won the Compton Crook Award in 2007 and was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel. Temeraire: In the Service of the King is omnibus volume collecting the first three books of the series (His Majesty's Dragon, Throne of Jade, and Black Powder War); it won the Locus Award for Best First Novel in 2007. The Temeraire series has also been released in audiobook format. The first five audiobooks were released by Books on Tape, beginning in 2007, and read by Simon Vance. The sixth audiobook was released by Tantor Audio in September 2010, also read by Vance. In September 2007, Novik was awarded the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer for best new science fiction writer of 2006. In 2015, Novik published Uprooted, a standalone novel "set in a fantasy world inspired by the Kingdom of Poland". It won the Nebula Award for Best Novel, the British Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Novel, the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award. In 2016, Novik published "Spinning Silver", a short story retelling the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale, in the fantasy anthology The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales. Two years later, she expanded the story into her second standalone novel, Spinning Silver, Universal Pictures purchased the film rights to the Scholomance series in advance, assigning Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman of Mandeville Films to develop and produce the films. Upon its release, A Deadly Education was criticized for a passage where the hairstyle known as dreadlocks is described as susceptible to an infestation of bug like magical creatures. Novik later apologized for "evok[ing] a racist stereotype" about Afro textured hair. She revised the passage for future reprints, and promised that the sequel novels will not be sent to reviewers and publishers before "revisions are fully complete and a final sensitivity read has happened."

Novik helped to organize the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), a non profit organization dedicated to the advancement of fan media including fan fiction, fan videos (vids), and real person fiction. In 2007 she was one of the three directors of the nonprofit. Novik was a co founder of Archive of Our Own (AO3), a project of OTW that began in 2007 to create an online archive of fan fiction. At the 2019 Hugo Award ceremony, AO3 won the award for Best Related Work; Novik accepted the prize on behalf of all AO3's creators and readers.

Novik is married to entrepreneur and writer Charles Ardai. They live in Manhattan.

Novik has won the British Fantasy, Locus, Mythopoeic and Nebula Awards, and received nominations for the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards. Award Category Year Work Result Alex Award Adult book 2019 Spinning Silver Audie Award Fantasy 2019 Spinning Silver British Fantasy Award Fantasy novel 2016 Uprooted Compton Crook Award New writer2007His Majesty's Dragon Hugo Award Novel 2007 His Majesty's Dragon 2016 Uprooted 2019 Spinning Silver Series 2017 Temeraire John W. Campbell Award New writer 2007 Naomi Novik Locus Award Fantasy novel 2016 Uprooted 2019 Spinning Silver 2022 The Last Graduate First novel 2007 Temeraire: In the Service of the King Novelette 2016 "Spinning Silver" Lodestar Award Young adult book 2021 A Deadly Education 2019 Spinning Silver Nebula Award Novel 2016 Uprooted 2019 Spinning Silver World Fantasy Award Novel 2016 Uprooted