Justina Robson

Biography and publishing history Justina Robson was born in Leeds on 11 June 1968, and studied philosophy and linguistics at the University of York. She worked in a variety of jobs – including secretary, technical writer, and fitness instructor – until becoming a full-time writer.

Robson attended the Clarion West Writing Workshop and was first published in 1994 in the British small press magazine The Third Alternative, but is best known as a novelist. Her debut novel Silver Screen was shortlisted for both the Arthur C Clarke Award and the BSFA Award in 2000. Her second novel, Mappa Mundi, was also shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke Award in 2001. It won the 2000 Amazon.co.uk Writer's Bursary. In 2004, Natural History, Robson's third novel, was shortlisted for the BSFA Award, and came second in the John W Campbell Award.

Robson's novels have been noted for sharply-drawn characters, and an intelligent and deeply thought-out approach to the tropes of the genre. She has been described as "one of the very best of the new British hard SF writers".

Living Next-Door to the God of Love is a loose sequel to Natural History, inasmuch as it is set in the same universe. Keeping It Real marks the beginning of a series, the Quantum Gravity Books.

On 27 July 2008, she spoke on BBC Radio 3 about Doctor Who and various other science fiction shows for 25 minutes during the interval of the Doctor Who Prom.

Robson was announced in November 2008 as the guest of honour at the following year's Novacon.

Robson was announced in April 2010 as an international guest of honour at Swancon 36 to be held 21 to 25 April 2011 in Perth Australia.

Robson announced in November 2010 the forthcoming publication of her first story collection, Heliotrope, to be published in April 2011 by Australian independent publisher Ticonderoga Publications.