Naomi Novik

Early life

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 received a bachelor's degree in English literature at Brown University and holds a master's degree in computer science from Columbia University. 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.

Career

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.

In September 2006, Peter Jackson optioned the rights to the Temeraire series, intending to produce three or more live-action films, but the rights have since reverted to Novik. 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 2011, Novik wrote Will Supervillains Be on the Final?, a graphic novel about the next generation of high-flying costumed crusaders. Yishan Li illustrated the comic with manga-styled art.

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. Warner Bros. purchased the film rights to Uprooted; Ellen DeGeneres and Jeff Kleeman signed on to produce the film through their production company, A Very Good Production.

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, which won the 2019 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, the 2019 Alex Award, and the 2019 Audie Award for Fantasy.

In 2020, Novik published A Deadly Education, the first in a trilogy set in the Scholomance, the retelling of folklore about a school of black magic. The main character, Galadriel "El" Higgins, a half-Welsh, half-Indian sorceress, must survive to graduation while controlling her destructive abilities. 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."

On September 17, 2024, Novik published Buried Deep and Other Stories, a collection of previously published and new short stories.

On September 19, 2025, Novik published a novella titled The Summer War about a young girl with magical powers on a quest to undo a curse she put on her brother.

Activism

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.{{cite book |author1=Fiesler, Casey |author2=Morrison, Shannon |author3=Bruckman, Amy S |date= 2016|title=Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems|chapter=An Archive of Their Own: A Case Study of Feminist HCI and Values in Design |url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/2858036.2858409 |access-date=September 6, 2021 |archive-date=February 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190219085837/https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/an-archive-of-our-own-how-ao3-built-a-nonprofit-fanfiction-empire-and-safe-haven |url-status=dead |access-date=September 6, 2021}}

Personal life

Novik is married to entrepreneur and writer Charles Ardai. They live in Manhattan. They have one child, a daughter named Evidence Novik Ardai, who was born in 2010.

Awards and nominations

Novik has won the British Fantasy, Locus, Mythopoeic and Nebula Awards, and received nominations for the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards.

Publications

Standalone novels

Standalone novellas

''Temeraire'' series

Main article: Temeraire (series)

Omnibus editions

''Scholomance'' trilogy

Collections

Short fiction

• "Araminta, or, the Wreck of the Amphidrake" in the anthology*Fast Ships, Black Sails (*Night Shade Books, 2008) .
• "Apples" (Novik's official website, 2005)
• "Commonplaces" in the anthology *The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (*Night Shade Books, 2009)
• "Feast or Famine" (Novik's official website)
• "In Autumn, a White Dragon Looks Over the Wide River" in the omnibus In His Majesty's Service: Three Novels of Temeraire (Del Rey, 2009)
• "Vici" in the anthology The Dragon Book: Magical Tales from the Masters of Modern Fantasy, edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois (Ace Books, 2009)
• "Purity Test" in the anthology Zombies vs. Unicorns, edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2010)
• "Seven Years from Home" in the anthology Warriors, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (Tor Books, 2010)
• "Priced to Sell" in the anthology Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy, edited by Ellen Datlow (St. Martin's Griffin, 2011)
• "Lord Dunsany's Teapot" in the anthology The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, edited by Ann & Jeff Vandermeer (Harper Voyager, 2011)
• "Rocks Fall" in the anthology The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination, edited by John Joseph Adams (Tor Books, 2013)
• "In Favour with Their Stars" in the anthology Unfettered, edited by Shawn Speakman (Grim Oak Press, 2013)
• "Castle Coeurlieu" in the anthology Unfettered II, edited by Shawn Speakman (Grim Oak Press, 2016)
• "Spinning Silver" in the anthologyThe Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales, edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe (Saga Press, 2016)
• "Seven" in the anthology Unfettered III, edited by Shawn Speakman (Grim Oak Press, 2019)

Notes

References

References

1. Jackson, Frannie. (July 10, 2018). "Naomi Novik Talks ''Spinning Silver'', Her Rumpelstiltskin-Inspired Novel". [[Paste (magazine).
2. (August 14, 2006). "Interview: Naomi Novik".
3. Bosman, Julie. (October 11, 2006). "A New Writer Is Soaring on the Wings of a Dragon". [[The New York Times]].
4. "Compton Crook Award: Past Award Winners".
5. (February 23, 2016). "r/YAwriters AMA: Naomi Novik, author of ''Uprooted'' & the ''Temeraire'' series".
6. (September 11, 2006). "Peter Jackson Options Temeraire".
7. (September 12, 2006). "Peter Jackson enters dragons' den". [[The Guardian]].
8. "Books by Naomi Novik".
9. "''Tongues of Serpents'': Book 6 in the ''Temeraire'' series".
10. (March 7, 2011). "''Will Supervillains Be on the Final?'' Liberty Vocational, Vol. 1".
11. Speakman, Shawn. (August 13, 2013). "New Release Interview: ''Blood of Tyrants'' by Naomi Novik". [[Random House]].
12. (June 8, 2015). "Ellen DeGeneres to Produce Adaptation of Naomi Novik's Fantasy Novel 'Uprooted' (Exclusive)".
13. (October 6, 2016). "Spinning Silver – A New Naomi Novik Short Story".
14. (February 7, 2020). "''Spinning Silver'' author Naomi Novik to launch epic new trilogy this fall".
15. (May 26, 2020). "Universal & Mandeville Films Partner On Naomi Novik's 'Scholomance' Series".
16. (October 16, 2020). "Racism vs. Representation: The Missteps of Naomi Novik's ''A Deadly Education''".
17. (December 3, 2020). "A Response to Claims of Racism in Naomi Novik's ''A Deadly Education''".
18. (October 10, 2020). "Apology for ''A Deadly Education''".
19. Novik, Naomi. (2024-09-17). "Buried Deep and Other Stories".
20. (19 September 2025). "The Summer War by Naomi Novik: 9780593984703 {{!}} PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". Del Rey.
21. "Organization for Transformative Works".
22. [https://www.transformativeworks.org/wp-content/uploads/old/otw_incorp.pdf Certificate of Incorporation of Organization for Transformative Works (2007)]
23. "Five Things Naomi Novik Said".
24. Novik, Naomi. (April 8, 2011). "Temeraire Fanart Contest Results!".
25. "Naomi Novik Awards". Locus Science Fiction Foundation.
26. "''Spinning Silver'' {{!}} Awards & Grants".
27. (February 27, 2012). "Alex Awards". [[American Library Association]].
28. (March 5, 2019). "Congratulations to Our 2019 Audie Award Winners".
29. "Winners of the British Fantasy Awards 2016".
30. "Goodreads Choice Awards 2018: Best Fantasy".
31. (August 9, 2007). "2007 Hugo Awards".
32. (December 29, 2015). "2016 Hugo Awards".
33. Cheryl. (April 2, 2019). "2019 Hugo Award & 1944 Retro Hugo Award Finalists".
34. (December 31, 2016). "2017 Hugo Awards".
35. (August 9, 2007). "Campbell Award".
36. (June 25, 2016). "2016 Locus Awards Winners".
37. (June 29, 2019). "2019 Locus Awards Winners".
38. (May 10, 2022). "2022 Locus Awards Top Ten Finalists".
39. (June 16, 2007). "2007 Locus Awards Winners".
40. "Temeraire: In the Service of the King".
41. (June 24, 2017). "2017 Locus Awards Winners".
42. "Spinning Silver (novelette)".
43. "Mythopoeic Awards 2016".
44. (August 4, 2019). "Mythopoeic Awards: 2019 Winners Announced".
45. "2015 Nebula Awards Winners". [[Locus (magazine).
46. "''Spinning Silver'' by Naomi Novik".
47. "Nominees {{!}} World Fantasy Convention".