# Sarah Pinsker

Sarah Pinsker is an American science fiction and fantasy author. She is a nine-time finalist for the Nebula Award, and her debut novel A Song for a New Day won the 2019 Nebula for Best Novel while her story "Our Lady of the Open Road won the 2016 Nebula Award for Best Novelette. Her novelette "Two Truths and a Lie" received both the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award. Her fiction has also won the Philip K. Dick Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Award and been a finalist for the Hugo, World Fantasy, and Tiptree Awards.

## Life

Pinsker was born in New York and lived in several places of the United States including Illinois and Texas. When she was 14, her family settled in Toronto, Canada. She returned to the US to attend Goucher college where she studied history.
In addition to writing fiction she is a singer-songwriter with the band Stalking Horses and has had multiple albums released through independent labels. She also volunteers as director at large for the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) and hosts the Baltimore Science Fiction Society's Dangerous Voices Variety Hour reading series.

## Writing

Pinsker says her writing is heavily influenced by the science fiction and literary fiction which filled her parents' home, adding she is one of the rare authors who read "short stories as much as novels" when she was young. Among her early influences as an author were the works of Ursula K. Le Guin and Kate Wilhelm. Later influences on her fiction include Octavia Butler, Karen Joy Fowler, Kij Johnson, and Kelly Link.
Pinsker started out publishing her short fiction in magazines such as Asimov's Science Fiction, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, Daily Science Fiction, the Journal of Unlikely Cartography, and Fireside. Anthologies containing her stories include Long Hidden, How to Live on Other Planets, Queers Destroy Science Fiction, and Whose Future Is It?. Among the collections of the "year's best" stories which include her stories are The Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume 2, Year's Best Weird Fiction Vol 2, Year's Best Young Adult Speculative Fiction 2015, The Year's Best YA Speculative Fiction and The Year's Best Military and Adventure Fiction 2015.
In 2019, her debut novel A Song for a New Day was published. The novel follows the life of a musician in a future where pandemics and terrorism makes public events such as concerts illegal. In 2020, it won the Nebula Award for Best Novel of 2019.
Pinsker's fiction has been called "thoughtful, subtle", "creepy" and "dreamlike". Speaking of her fiction, Pinsker says "It is a good time to be someone who has something to say about a group or a personal experience that hasn't been touched on before. Science fiction looks at the world through a slightly different lens, so it's fun to put that lens onto new experiences."

## Awards

Pinsker has been nominated for the Nebula Award eleven times, winning in the categories of Best Novel, Best Novelette (twice). and Best Short Story. For "Two Truths and a Lie" she was awarded the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in addition to the Nebula Award for the corresponding category, and she came in 2nd place at the Locus Awards. She has also won the Philip K. Dick Award and the Theodore Sturgeon Award along with being a seven-time finalist for the Hugo Award and a finalist for the World Fantasy Award and Otherwise Award.
Source:
| Year | Nominated Work | Award | Category | Result |
| 2014 | "In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind" | Nebula Award | Novelette | Shortlisted |
| 2014 | "In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind" | Theodore Sturgeon Award | — | Won |
| 2015 | "A Stretch of Highway Two Lanes Wide" | Locus Award | Short Story | Nominated–29th |
| 2015 | "A Stretch of Highway Two Lanes Wide" | Nebula Award | Short Story | Shortlisted |
| 2016 | "Our Lady of the Open Road" | Asimov's Reader Poll | Novelette | Nominated |
| 2016 | "Our Lady of the Open Road" | Nebula Award | Novelette | Won |
| 2016 | "Our Lady of the Open Road" | Theodore Sturgeon Award | — | Shortlisted |
| 2017 | "Sooner or Later Everything Falls into the Sea" | Nebula Award | Novelette | Shortlisted |
| 2018 | "And Then There Were (N-One)" | Eugie Award | — | Shortlisted |
| 2018 | "And Then There Were (N-One)" | Hugo Award | Novella | Shortlisted |
| 2018 | "And Then There Were (N-One)" | Locus Award | Novella | Nominated–7th |
| 2018 | "And Then There Were (N-One)" | Nebula Award | Novella | Shortlisted |
| 2018 | "And Then There Were (N-One)" | Theodore Sturgeon Award | — | Shortlisted |
| 2018 | "Wind Will Rove" | Asimov's Reader Poll | Novelette | Nominated |
| 2018 | "Wind Will Rove" | Hugo Award | Novelette | Shortlisted |
| 2018 | "Wind Will Rove" | Nebula Award | Novelette | Shortlisted |
| 2018 | "Wind Will Rove" | Locus Award | Novelette | Nominated–5th |
| 2019 | "The Court Magician" | Hugo Award | Short Story | Shortlisted |
| 2019 | "The Court Magician" | Locus Award | Short Story | Nominated–9th |
| 2019 | "The Court Magician" | Nebula Award | Short Story | Shortlisted |
| 2019 | "The Court Magician" | World Fantasy Award | Short Fiction | Shortlisted |
| 2020 | Sooner or Later Everything Falls into the Sea | Locus Award | Collection | Nominated–2nd |
| 2020 | Sooner or Later Everything Falls into the Sea | Philip K. Dick Award | — | Won |
| 2020 | Sooner or Later Everything Falls into the Sea | World Fantasy Award | Collection | Shortlisted |
| 2020 | "The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye" | Hugo Award | Novelette | Shortlisted |
| 2020 | "The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye" | Locus Award | Novelette | Nominated–8th |
| 2020 | "The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye" | Nebula Award | Novelette | Shortlisted |
| 2020 | "The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye" | World Fantasy Award | Short Fiction | Shortlisted |
| 2020 | A Song for a New Day | Compton Crook Award | — | Shortlisted |
| 2020 | A Song for a New Day | Locus Award | First Novel | Nominated–5th |
| 2020 | A Song for a New Day | Nebula Award | Novel | Won |
| 2020 | "Two Truths and a Lie" | Bram Stoker Award | Long Fiction | Shortlisted |
| 2021 | "Two Truths and a Lie" | Hugo Award | Novelette | Won |
| 2021 | "Two Truths and a Lie" | Locus Award | Novelette | Nominated–2nd |
| 2021 | "Two Truths and a Lie" | Nebula Award | Novelette | Won |
| 2022 | "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather" | Eugie Award | — | Won |
| 2022 | "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather" | Hugo Award | Short Story | Won |
| 2022 | "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather" | Nebula Award | Short Story | Won |
| 2022 | "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather" | World Fantasy Award | Short Fiction | Shortlisted |
| 2022 | "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather" | Locus Award | Short Story | Won |
| 2022 | We Are Satellites | Locus Award | Science Fiction Novel | Nominated–7th |
| 2024 | Lost Places | Locus Award | Collection | Nominated–3rd |
| 2024 | "One Man's Treasure" | Hugo Award | Novelette | Shortlisted |
| 2024 | "One Man's Treasure" | Locus Award | Novelette | Nominated–8th |
| 2024 | "Science Facts!" | Locus Award | Novelette | Nominated–13th |
| 2024 | "There's a Door to the Land of the Dead in the Land of the Dead" | Locus Award | Short Story | Nominated–8th |
Additionally,
* "No Lonely Seafarer" (short story in Lightspeed, Sept. 2014) selected as an honorable mention for the 2014 Otherwise Award.