Shelley Parker-Chan

Shelley Parker-Chan is a non-binary, Australian fantasy novelist best known for their debut novel, She Who Became the Sun, and its sequel, He Who Drowned the World, which form The Radiant Emperor Duology.^[1]

Early life and career

Parker-Chan was born in New Zealand to a Malaysian-Chinese mother and a white father.^[2] They were raised in Australia, where they felt disconnected with their racial identity and with the stereotypical representation of Asian characters in fiction.^[3] They say in interview: "I was raised very much by a tiger parent in a part of Adelaide with a large Chinese, Malaysian and Southeast Asian Chinese population. I was a scholarship kid and I went to a posh private school where my peers were all the offspring of doctors and lawyers, and I was pushed to also become a doctor or lawyer and achieve high results. So I feel I grew up in a very classically second- generation middle-class Asian way, but I was definitely not perceived as Asian."^[4]

When they moved to Asia as a young adult, they discovered Asian dramas, and began to understand that "...Asians could be any and every kind of character: the heroes, the villains, the love interests, warriors, scholars."

They did graduate work on the subjects of war crimes and restorative justice,^[5] and worked as a diplomat, representing the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Timor-Leste, and as an international development adviser for gender equality and LGBTQ rights in Indonesia,^[6]before becoming a writer. Their interest in writing novels began with romantic fan fiction, and a desire for better queer representation in literature.^[7]

In 2021, Mantle Books published She Who Became the Sun, which became a Sunday Times Number 1 bestseller, won several awards, and has been translated into 15 languages.^[8] This was followed in 2023 by He Who Drowned the World, which concludes the Radiant Emperor duology.

Personal life

Parker-Chan uses they/them pronouns, is queer and genderqueer,^[9][6] and was named after Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.^[10] As of 2023, they live in Melbourne, Australia.^[11] They are married and have a daughter.^[2]

Awards

Parker-Chan won the 2022 Astounding Award for Best New Writer^[12] and the British Fantasy Award (the Robert Holdstock Award for Best Fantasy Novel and the Sydney J. Bounds Award for Best Newcomer).^[13]

Year	Work	Award	Category	Result	Ref
2021	She Who Became the Sun	Aurealis Award	Fantasy Novel	Shortlisted	[14]
		Goodreads Choice Awards	Debut Novel	Nominated—6th	[15]
			Fantasy	Nominated—4th	[16][17]
		Indie Next List	August	—	[18]
		Otherwise Award	—	Honor List	[19]
2022		Astounding Award	—	Won	[20]
		British Book Award	Debut Book of the Year	Shortlisted	[21]
		British Fantasy Award	Fantasy Novel (Robert Holdstock Award)	Won	[13][22]
			Newcomer (Sydney J. Bounds Award)	Won	[13][22]
		Ditmar Award	Novel	Shortlisted	[23]
		Dragon Award	Alternate History Novel	Shortlisted	[24]
		Hugo Award	Novel	Shortlisted	[25]
		Lambda Literary Award	Transgender Fiction	Shortlisted	[26]
		Locus Award	First Novel	Nominated—2nd	[27]
2023	He Who Drowned the World	Indie Next List	?	—
2024		Dragon Award	Fantasy Novel	Shortlisted
		Locus Award	Fantasy Novel	Nominated	[28]

Biblio

The Radiant Emperor Duology

• She Who Became the Sun. Pan. 2021. ISBN 9781529043402.
• He Who Drowned the World. Pan. 2023. ISBN 9781529043457.