Xiran Jay Zhao

Xiran Jay Zhao is a Canadian author and social media creator. Their debut novel, Iron Widow, became a 1 New York Times Best Seller and won the 2021 BSFA Award for Best Book for Younger Readers.

Zhao's subsequent novels, Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor (2022) and Iron Widow sequel Heavenly Tyrant (2024), were also New York Times Best Sellers. They won the 2024 Astounding Award for Best New Writer and Heavenly Tyrant won the 2025 Aurora Award for Best YA Novel.

Early life and education Xiran Jay Zhao immigrated to British Columbia from a small town in China in grade five. Their father is of Hui heritage. Zhao would imagine stories growing up, but did not put any on paper until being encouraged to at an anime convention when they were 15.

They studied biochemistry at the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University, in 2020. They worked at a co-op before deciding on a different career.

Career In March 2020, Zhao signed a two-book deal with Penguin Teen Canada for a young adult (YA) mecha reimagining of the rise of the Chinese Empress Wu. Rock the Boat, the children's imprint of Oneworld Publications, acquired the UK rights in May 2021. Zhao described the series as a "monstrous amalgamation of my love for anime and my love for Chinese harem dramas". The first installment in the series, Iron Widow, was published in September 2021 and reached 1 in the Young Adult Hardcover category of the New York Times Best Seller list.

Zhao was a finalist for the Astounding Award for Best New Writer in 2022. In 2023, Zhao again received enough votes to be a finalist, but was declared ineligible and removed from the ballot. It later emerged that this was due to self-censorship by the Hugo Award administrators of the 81st World Science Fiction Convention – which was held in Chengdu, China – in order to appease the Chinese government, which has a strict censorship regime. Zhao made a guest appearance for an episode of the ABC/CBC documentary series Stuff the British Stole revolving around items looted during the Boxer Rebellion that aired in November 2022.

In December 2023, Zhao exposed Cait Corrain's "pattern of leaving one-star reviews through fake Goodreads accounts, mostly on the debut works of first-time writers of color, while leaving positive reviews on her own forthcoming book". This resulted in Corrain being dropped by her publishers.

In 2024, Zhao won the Astounding Award for Best New Writer after the award sponsor Dell Magazines extended the eligibility requirements. The release of the second installment of the Iron Widow series, Heavenly Tyrant, was delayed. It was then published on 24 December 2024. On 12 January 2025, Heavenly Tyrant debuted at 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list in the Young Adult Hardcover category; it remained on the list for five weeks.