Ted Chiang (born 1967) is an American science fiction writer. His work has won four Nebula awards, four Hugo awards, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and six Locus awards.[1] He has published the short story collections Stories of Your Life and Others (2002) and Exhalation: Stories (2019). His short story "Story of Your Life" was the basis of the film Arrival (2016). He was an artist in residence at the University of Notre Dame in 2020–2021.[2] Chiang is also a frequent non-fiction contributor to the New Yorker Magazine, most recently on topics related to computer technology, such as artificial intelligence.
Ted Chiang | |
---|---|
Born | 1967 (age 56–57) Port Jefferson, New York, U.S. |
Occupation | Fiction writer, technical writer |
Education | Brown University (BS) |
Period | 1990–present |
Genre | Science fiction, fantasy |
Notable works | ‟Tower of Babylon” (1990) ‟Story of Your Life” (1998) ‟The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate” (2007) Stories of Your Life and Others (2002) Exhalation: Stories (2019) ‟Hell is the Absence of God” (2001) |
Ted Chiang | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Traditional Chinese | 姜峯楠 | ||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 姜峰楠 | ||||||||||
|
Biography
editEarly life, family and education
editTed Chiang was born in 1967 in Port Jefferson, New York.[3] His Chinese name is Chiang Feng-nan (姜峯楠; Jiāng Fēngnán).[4] Both of his parents were born in Mainland China and immigrated to Taiwan with their families during the Chinese Communist Revolution before immigrating to the United States.[5] His father, Fu-pen Chiang, is a distinguished professor of mechanical engineering at Stony Brook University.[6] His mother was a librarian.[7]
Chiang graduated from Brown University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science.[8][9][10]
Career
editChiang began submitting stories to magazines in high school. After attending the Clarion Workshop in 1989 he sold his first story, "The Tower of Babylon", to Omni magazine,[4] and was awarded a Nebula Award for it in 1990. His later stories have won numerous other awards, making him one of the most-honored writers in contemporary science fiction. Chiang's first short story collection, Stories of Your Life and Others (2002) was published in 2002 by Tor Books and comprises his first eight stories. The collection was reprinted in 2016 as Arrival to coincide with the adaptation of "Story of Your Life" as the film Arrival.[11][12]
As of July 2002[update], Chiang was working as a technical writer in the software industry and resided in Bellevue, Washington, near Seattle.[13] He was an instructor at the Clarion Workshop at UC San Diego in 2012 and 2016.[14]
Chiang's second short story collection, Exhalation: Stories was published in May 2019 by Alfred A. Knopf.[15] Chiang has published eighteen short stories, novelettes, and novellas as of 2019.[update] In 2022, Chiang became a Miller Scholar in the Santa Fe Institute.[16][17]
In 2023, Chiang was named one of Time's 100 most influential people in AI.[18]
Writing style and influences
editChiang has said Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke inspired him when he was young,[19] while the works of Gene Wolfe, John Crowley and Edward Bryant were his creative influences in college.[10]
Chiang has said that one of the reasons science fiction writing interests him is that it allows him to make philosophical questions "storyable".[10] He enjoys reading story notes by authors, and himself includes them with his short story collections. He considers these not the "precise response to 'How did you get the idea?,' but it's a way to answer the reader if they knew what the best question to ask [about the story] was".[20]
Reception
editCritic John Clute has written that Chiang's work has a "tight-hewn and lucid style... [which] has a magnetic effect on the reader".[21] Critic and poet Joyce Carol Oates wrote that Chiang explores "conventional tropes of science fiction in highly unconventional ways" in "teasing, tormenting, illuminating, thrilling" fashion, comparing him favorably to Philip K. Dick, James Tiptree Jr. and Jorge Luis Borges.[22] Writer Peter Watts has praised Chiang's work, writing: "We share a secret prayer, we writers of short SF. We utter it whenever one of our stories is about to appear in public, and it goes like this: Please, Lord. Please, if it be Thy will, don’t let Ted Chiang publish a story this year."[23]
Former US president Barack Obama included Chiang's short story collection Exhalation in his 2019 reading list, praising it as the "best kind of science fiction".[24]
Chiang has commented on "metacognition, or thinking about one’s own thinking" being something most humans, but neither animals nor current AI, are capable of, and that capitalism erodes the capacity for this insight, especially for tech company executives.[25]
Awards
editChiang has won the following science fiction awards for his works: a Nebula Award for "Tower of Babylon" (1990); the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1992; a Nebula Award and the Theodore Sturgeon Award for "Story of Your Life" (1998); a Sidewise Award for "Seventy-Two Letters" (2000); a Nebula Award, Locus Award, and Hugo Award for his novelette "Hell Is the Absence of God" (2002); a Locus Award for his short story collection Stories of Your Life and Others (2003); a Nebula and Hugo Award for his novelette "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" (2007); a British Science Fiction Association Award, a Locus Award, and the Hugo Award for Best Short Story for "Exhalation" (2009); a Hugo Award[26] and Locus Award for his novella "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" (2010); a Locus Award for his short story collection Exhalation: Stories (2020); and a Locus Award for his novelette "Omphalos" (2020).
Chiang turned down a Hugo nomination for his short story "Liking What You See: A Documentary" in 2003, on the grounds that the story was rushed due to editorial pressure and did not turn out as he had really wanted.[27]
In 2013, his collection of translated stories Die Hölle ist die Abwesenheit Gottes won the German Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis for best foreign science fiction.
In 2024, Chiang won the PEN/Malamud Award for "excellence in the art of the short story"[28][29][30] and the American Humanist Association's Inquiry and Innovation Award.[31]
Year | Organization | Award title, category | Work | Result | Refs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1991 | Locus Magazine | Locus Award for Best Novelette | "Tower of Babylon" | Nominated | |
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America | Nebula Award for Best Novelette | Won | |||
World Science Fiction Society | Hugo Award for Best Novelette | Nominated | |||
1992 | Locus Magazine | Locus Award for Best Short Story | "Division by Zero" | Nominated | |
Locus Magazine | Locus Award for Best Novelette | "Understand" | Nominated | ||
World Science Fiction Society | Hugo Award for Best Novelette | Nominated | |||
1999 | James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award Council | James Tiptree Jr. Award | "Story of Your Life" | Nominated | |
Locus Magazine | Locus Award for Best Novella | Nominated | |||
World Science Fiction Society | Hugo Award for Best Novella | Nominated | |||
2000 | Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America | Nebula Award for Best Novella | Won | ||
2001 | Locus Magazine | Locus Award for Best Short Story | "The Evolution of Human Science" | Nominated | |
Locus Magazine | Locus Award for Best Novella | "Seventy-Two Letters" | Nominated | ||
World Fantasy Convention | World Fantasy Award for Best Novella | Nominated | |||
World Science Fiction Society | Hugo Award for Best Novella | Nominated | |||
2002 | Locus Magazine | Locus Award for Best Novelette | "Hell Is the Absence of God" | Won | |
World Science Fiction Society | Hugo Award for Best Novelette | Won | |||
2003 | Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America | Nebula Award for Best Novelette | Won | ||
Locus Magazine | Locus Award for Best Collection | Stories of Your Life and Others | Won | ||
James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award Council | James Tiptree Jr. Award | "Liking What You See: A Documentary" | Nominated | ||
Locus Magazine | Locus Award for Best Novelette | Nominated | |||
2008 | British Science Fiction Association | BSFA Award, Best Short Fiction |
"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" | Nominated | |
Locus Magazine | Locus Award for Best Novelette | Nominated | |||
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America | Nebula Award for Best Novelette | Won | |||
World Science Fiction Society | Hugo Award for Best Novelette | Won | |||
2009 | British Science Fiction Association | BSFA Award, Best Short Fiction |
"Exhalation" | Won | |
Locus Magazine | Locus Award for Best Short Story | Nominated | |||
World Science Fiction Society | Hugo Award for Best Short Story | Won | |||
2011 | Locus Magazine | Locus Award for Best Novella | "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" | Won | |
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America | Nebula Award for Best Novella | Nominated | |||
World Science Fiction Society | Hugo Award for Best Novella | Won | |||
2014 | Locus Magazine | Locus Award for Best Novelette | "The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling" | Nominated | |
World Science Fiction Society | Hugo Award for Best Novelette | Nominated | |||
2017 | World Science Fiction Society | Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form | Arrival | Won | |
2020 | Locus Magazine | Locus Award for Best Novella | "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom" | Nominated | |
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America | Nebula Award for Best Novella | Nominated | |||
World Science Fiction Society | Hugo Award for Best Novella | Nominated | |||
Locus Magazine | Locus Award for Best Collection | Exhalation: Stories | Won | ||
Locus Magazine | Locus Award for Best Short Story | "It's 2059, and the Rich Kids are Still Winning" | Nominated | ||
Locus Magazine | Locus Award for Best Novelette | "Omphalos" | Won | ||
World Science Fiction Society | Hugo Award for Best Novelette | Nominated |
Works
editShort stories
edit- "Tower of Babylon", Omni, 1990 (Nebula Award winner)
- "Division by Zero", Full Spectrum 3, 1991[32]
- "Understand", Asimov's Science Fiction, 1991[33]
- "Story of Your Life", Starlight 2, 1998 (Nebula Award, Theodore Sturgeon Award and Seiun Award winner)
- "The Evolution of Human Science" (also known as "Catching Crumbs from the Table"), Nature, 2000[34]
- "Seventy-Two Letters", Vanishing Acts, 2000 (Sidewise Award winner)[35]
- "Hell Is the Absence of God", Starlight 3, 2001 (Hugo Award, Locus Award, Nebula Award and Seiun Award winner)
- "Liking What You See: A Documentary", Stories of Your Life and Others, 2002
- "What's Expected of Us", Nature, 2005[36]
- "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate", Subterranean Press, 2007 and F&SF, September 2007 (Nebula Award, Hugo Award and Seiun Award winner)[37]
- "Exhalation", Eclipse 2, 2008 (BSFA, Locus Award, and Hugo Award winner)[38]
- "The Lifecycle of Software Objects", Subterranean Press, July 2010 (Locus Award, Hugo Award and Seiun Award winner)[39]
- "Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny", The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities (edited by Jeff VanderMeer and Ann VanderMeer) June 2011
- "The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling", Subterranean Press Magazine, August 2013[40]
- "The Great Silence", e-flux Journal, May 2015 (included in The Best American Short Stories, 2016)[41]
- "Omphalos", Exhalation: Stories, 2019
- "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom", Exhalation: Stories, 2019
- "It's 2059, and the Rich Kids are Still Winning", New York Times, 2019
Collections
edit- Stories of Your Life and Others (Tor, 2002; Locus Award for Best Collection), republished as Arrival (Picador, 2016)
- Exhalation: Stories (Knopf, May 2019)[42]
Non-fiction
edit- "Frankenstein's Daughter" by Maureen McHugh: An Appreciation, The Ellen Datlow/SCI FICTION Project, December 30, 2005[43]
- The Problem of the Traveling Salesman, Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet #23, November 2008[44]
- Reasoning About the Body, Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet #26, November 2010[45]
- Introduction to "Particle Theory", Strange Horizons, October 31, 2011[46]
- Bad Character, The New Yorker, May 9, 2016[47]
- Silicon Valley Is Turning Into Its Own Worst Fear, Buzzfeed, December 18, 2017[48]
- What If Parents Loved Strangers’ Children As Much As Their Own?, The New Yorker, December 31, 2017[49]
- Why Computers Won’t Make Themselves Smarter, The New Yorker, March 30, 2021[50]
- Foreword to The Art and Science of Arrival by Tanya Lapointe, 2022[51]
- Foreword to The History of Science Fiction: A Graphic Novel Adventure by Xavier Dollo, 2022[52]
- ChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the Web, The New Yorker, February 9, 2023[53]
- Will A.I. Become the New McKinsey?, The New Yorker, May 4, 2023[54]
- Why A.I. Isn't Going to Make Art, The New Yorker, August 31, 2024[55]
Lectures
edit- Ted Chiang on the Future, MoMA PS1, July 8, 2013[56]
- Imaginary Science and Magic in Fiction, Notre Dame Technology Ethics Center, November 2020[57]
Film
editThe screenwriter Eric Heisserer adapted Chiang's story "Story of Your Life" into the 2016 film Arrival. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, the film stars Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner.[58][59]
Personal life
editAs of 2016, Chiang lives in Bellevue, Washington with his long-time partner, Marcia Glover,[60] whom he met while both were working at Microsoft. She worked as an interface designer and then a photographer. Chiang goes to the gym three times per week and enjoys video games.[61]
References
edit- ^ Chiang's awards, Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
- ^ "Ted Chiang". Institute for Advanced Study, University of Notre Dame. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
- ^ "Ted Chiang". Internet Speculative Fiction Database (Summary Bibliography). Retrieved October 4, 2012.
- ^ a b "The Legendary Ted Chiang on Seeing His Stories Adapted and the Ever-Expanding Popularity of SF". Electric Literature. July 18, 2016.
- ^ Rothman, Joshua (January 5, 2017). "Ted Chiang's Soulful Science Fiction". The New Yorker. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
- ^ Fan, Christopher T. (November 5, 2014). "Melancholy Transcendence: Ted Chiang and Asian American Postracial Form". Post45.
- ^ Orr, Niela (December 2, 2019). "An Interview with Ted Chiang". Believer Magazine. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
- ^ "Ted Chiang interviewed - infinity plus non-fiction". Infinity Plus. 2002. Archived from the original on December 1, 2022. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
- ^ Smith, Andy (2020). "Alien Worlds". Brown Alumni Magazine. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
- ^ a b c McCarron, Meghan (July 18, 2016). "The Legendary Ted Chiang on Seeing His Stories Adapted and the Ever-Expanding Popularity of SF". Electric Literature. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
- ^ "ARRIVAL (STORIES OF YOUR LIFE MTI)". Chapters-Indigo. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
- ^ Ted Chiang (2016). Arrival: originally published as – Stories Of Your Life And Others. Doubleday. ISBN 978-0525433675.
- ^ "An Interview with Ted Chiang". SF Site. July 2002. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
- ^ "Clarion at UC San Diego Graduates and Instructors". Clarion. Archived from the original on April 27, 2008. Retrieved December 9, 2016.
- ^ "Exhalation: Stories". Publishers Weekly.
- ^ "Ted Chiang joins SFI Miller Scholars | Santa Fe Institute". www.santafe.edu. January 30, 2023. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
- ^ "Ted Chiang. Macrocosm in Miniature" (PDF). Extraterritorial. 2. SFI Press. 2023. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
- ^ "TIME100 AI 2023: Ted Chiang". Time. September 7, 2023. Retrieved September 8, 2023.
- ^ "Ted Chiang, interviewed by Gavin J. Grant". IndieBound. Archived from the original on April 7, 2017.
- ^ Orr, Niela (December 2, 2019). "An Interview with Ted Chiang". The Believer (magazine). Retrieved May 26, 2023.
- ^ Chiang, SF Encyclopedia.
- ^ Oates, Joyce Carol (May 6, 2019). "Science Fiction Doesn't Have to Be Dystopian". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
- ^ Watts, Peter (November 30, 2016). "Changing Our Minds: "Story of Your Life" in Print and on Screen". No Moods, Ads or Cutesy Fucking Icons. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
- ^ Brady, Amy (August 20, 2019). "Barack Obama's 2019 Summer Reading List". Chicago Review of Books. Retrieved May 26, 2023.
- ^ "Silicon Valley Is Turning Into Its Own Worst Fear". BuzzFeed News. December 18, 2017. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
- ^ "2011 Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners". Locus. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
- ^ "Chiang". fantasticmetropolis.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2008.
- ^ "Science Fiction Author Ted Chiang Honoured with the PEN/Malamud Award for Short Story Writing". Times Now. June 12, 2024. Retrieved June 12, 2024.
- ^ "Ted Chiang has won the PEN/Faulkner Foundation's short story prize". Literary Hub. June 12, 2024. Retrieved June 12, 2024.
- ^ "Chiang Wins PEN/Malamud Award". Locus Online. June 12, 2024. Retrieved June 13, 2024.
- ^ Humanist, The (August 22, 2024). "Meet the 2024 Humanist Awardees". TheHumanist.com. Retrieved August 26, 2024.
- ^ "Fantastic Metropolis » Division by Zero". November 21, 2011. Archived from the original on November 21, 2011. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
- ^ "Understand - a novelette by Ted Chiang". May 27, 2014. Archived from the original on May 27, 2014. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
- ^ Chiang, Ted (June 2000). "Catching crumbs from the table". Nature. 405 (6786): 517. doi:10.1038/35014679. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 10850694.
- ^ "Seventy-Two Letters by Ted Chiang". Archived from the original on August 2, 2001. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
- ^ Chiang, Ted (July 2005). "What's expected of us". Nature. 436 (7047): 150. Bibcode:2005Natur.436..150C. doi:10.1038/436150a. ISSN 1476-4687.
- ^ "Fantasy and Science Fiction: Fiction". February 14, 2008. Archived from the original on February 14, 2008. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
- ^ "Exhalation". Lightspeed Magazine. April 29, 2014. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
- ^ "Subterranean Press Fiction: The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang". June 7, 2018. Archived from the original on June 7, 2018. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
- ^ "The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling by Ted Chiang — Subterranean Press". February 22, 2014. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
- ^ "e-flux journal 56th Venice Biennale — SUPERCOMMUNITY – The Great Silence". e-flux Supercommunity. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
- ^ "Exhalation by Ted Chiang". Penguin Random House.
- ^ "The ED SF Project: "Frankenstein's Daughter" by Maureen McHugh: An Appreciation by Ted Chiang". Retrieved May 11, 2023.
- ^ "Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet No. 23 | Small Beer Press". Small Beer Press | Really rather good books. November 1, 2008. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
- ^ "Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet No. 26 | Small Beer Press". Small Beer Press | Really rather good books. November 18, 2010. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
- ^ words, Ted Chiang Issue: 31 October 2011 289 (October 31, 2011). "Introduction to "Particle Theory"". Strange Horizons. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "If Chinese Were Phonetic". The New Yorker. May 9, 2016. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
- ^ Chiang, Ted (December 18, 2017). "Silicon Valley Is Turning Into Its Own Worst Fear". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved June 4, 2023.
- ^ "What If Parents Loved Strangers' Children As Much As Their Own?". The New Yorker. December 31, 2017. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
- ^ Chiang, Ted (March 30, 2021). "Why Computers Won't Make Themselves Smarter". The New Yorker.
- ^ "Publication: The Art and Science of Arrival". www.isfdb.org. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
- ^ "Publication: The History of Science Fiction: A Graphic Novel Adventure". www.isfdb.org. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
- ^ Chiang, Ted (February 9, 2023). "ChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the Web". The New Yorker.
- ^ Chiang, Ted (May 4, 2023). "Will A.I. Become the New McKinsey?". The New Yorker.
- ^ Chiang, Ted (August 31, 2024). "Why A.I. Isn't Going to Make Art". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved September 7, 2024.
- ^ Ted Chiang on the Future, retrieved May 11, 2023
- ^ Ted Chiang "Imaginary Science and Magic in Fiction", retrieved May 11, 2023
- ^ "Jeremy Renner Joins Amy Adams in Sci-Fi 'Story of Your Life'". The Hollywood Reporter. March 6, 2015.
- ^ Zutter, Natalie (August 8, 2016). "Your First Look at Arrival, the Adaptation of Ted Chiang's Novella Story of Your Life". TOR. tor.com. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
- ^ "How a Bellevue writer's short story became a major new film". The Seattle Times. November 2, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
- ^ Rothman, Joshua (January 5, 2017). "Ted Chiang's Soulful Science Fiction". The New Yorker – via www.newyorker.com.
External links
edit- Interview conducted by Avi Solomon
- Interview conducted by Al Robertson
- Interview conducted by Lou Anders
- Interview conducted by Gavin J. Grant
- Interview conducted by James Yeh
- Ted Chiang at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Ted Chiang's online fiction at Free Speculative Fiction Online
- Ted Chiang at IMDb
- Ted Chiang at Library of Congress, with 3 library catalog records