Nancy Kress

Biography

Born Nancy Anne Koningisor in Buffalo, New York, she grew up in East Aurora and attended college at SUNY Plattsburgh and graduated with an M.A. in English. Before starting her writing career she taught elementary school and then college English. In 1973, she moved to Rochester to marry Michael Joseph Kress. They had two sons, and divorced in 1984. At that time, she went to work at Stanton and Hucko, an advertising agency. She was married to Marcos Donnelly from 1988 to 1994.

In 1998, she married fellow author Charles Sheffield, who died in 2002 of a brain tumor. Kress moved back to Rochester, New York, to be near her grown children. In February 2011, she married author Jack Skillingstead.

Work

Kress tends to write hard science fiction, or technically realistic stories, often set in a fairly near future. Her fiction often involves genetic engineering and, to a lesser degree, artificial intelligence. There are many invented technologies shared between her stories, including "genemod", to refer to genetic engineering, and "foamcast", a lightweight and sturdy building material that appears in many of her novels and short stories.

By conducting extensive research, she keeps her topics within the realm of possibility; however, as Kress clarified for one Locus interviewer, with regards to her partner and fellow science fiction writer, "[Sheffield] pronounces it science fiction, and I pronounce it science fiction."

Kress also loves ballet, and has written stories around it.

Awards

Nebula Award Best Short Story winner (1986): "Out of All Them Bright Stars", F&SF March 1985 Best Novella (1991): Beggars in Spain (Axolotl Press / Pulphouse Feb. 1991) / Asimov's April 1991 Best Novelette (1998): "The Flowers of Aulit Prison", Asimov's Oct./Nov. 1996 Best Novella (2007): "Fountain of Age", Asimov's July 2007 Best Novella (2012): "After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall", Tachyon Publications Best Novella (2014): "Yesterday's Kin", Tachyon Publications Hugo Award Best Novella (1992): Beggars in Spain (Axolotl Press / Pulphouse Feb. 1991) / Asimov's April 1991 Best Novella (2009): "The Erdmann Nexus", Asimov's Oct./Nov. 2008 John W. Campbell Memorial Award Best Novel (2003): Probability Space, (Tor Sep. 2002) Theodore Sturgeon Award Best Short Science Fiction (1997): "The Flowers of Aulit Prison", Asimov's Oct./Nov. 1996