Naomi Novik

Naomi Novik is an American author of speculative fiction. She is known for her Temeraire series (2006–2016), an alternate history of the Napoleonic Wars involving dragons; and her Scholomance trilogy (2020–2022). Her standalone fantasy novels Uprooted and Spinning Silver (2018) were inspired by Polish folklore and the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale respectively. She also helped create the Organization for Transformative Works and was a cofounder of their project Archive of Our Own. Novik has won many awards for her work, including the Alex, Audie, British Fantasy, Locus, Mythopoeic and Nebula Awards.

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 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. 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 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.

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, 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. At the 2019 Hugo Award ceremony, AO3 won the award for Best Related Work; Novik accepted the prize on behalf of all AO3's creators and readers.

Personal life Novik is married to entrepreneur and writer Charles Ardai. They live in Manhattan.

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

Omnibus editions

Scholomance trilogy

Collections

Short fiction "Araminta, or, the Wreck of the Amphidrake" in the anthologyFast 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, 2006) "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)