Isabel J. Kim | |
|---|---|
| Occupation |
|
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania University of Pennsylvania Law School |
| Genre | Speculative fiction |
| Notable awards | Shirley Jackson Award (2021). Nebula Award for Best Short Story (2025) |
Isabel J. Kim is an American speculative fiction writer. For her short stories she has won the annual Shirley Jackson Award [1] and been nominated for the Astounding Award for Best New Writer. [2] Her short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine , Lightspeed, Apex Magazine , Strange Horizons , Fantasy Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies , Cast of Wonders , and khōréō.
Her work has been collected in The Year's Best Fantasy Volume 2 [3] and The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023 . [4]
In April 2024, Universal International Studios acquired the rights to her planned debut novel Sublimation. [5] The novel is part of a three-book deal.
Kim attended the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in Creative Writing and Fine Arts. [6] Kim attended law school at the University of Pennsylvania and now works as a lawyer in New York.
Kim started publishing speculative fiction in 2021 and won the Shirley Jackson Award for You'll Understand When You're a Mom Someday, her second published story. [1] She won the Clarkesworld reader poll in the Best Short Story category for "Calf Cleaving in the Benthic Black" in 2022. [7]
She was nominated for the Astounding Award for Best New Writer in 2023 [2] in her second year of eligibility for the award. Her work has appeared on the Locus Recommended Reading List for 2021, [8] 2022, [9] and 2023. [10] Her story Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid In the Omelas Hole won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story in 2025. [11] It is a finalist for the 2025 Hugo Award for Best Short Story and 2025 Theodore Sturgeon Award. [12] [13]
She co-hosts the internet culture podcast Wow If True with journalist Amanda Silberling. [14]
Sublimation, Tor Books (June 2026)