I’m a writer from Colombo, Sri Lanka, with over fifty short stories published so far, as well as essays and occasional poetry.
My short fiction has been nominated for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. I was part of the editorial team at Strange Horizons that won a British Fantasy Award for Best Magazine and the inaugural Ignyte Community Award for Outstanding Efforts in Service of Inclusion and Equitable Practice in Genre, and was nominated for multiple Hugo Awards for Best Semiprozine. As a contributor to a Clarke Award shadow jury, my critical writing was nominated for the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Non-Fiction.
My big news this year is the upcoming release of my debut novel:
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THE SAINT OF BRIGHT DOORS
My debut novel The Saint of Bright Doors will be published in July 2023 by Tordotcom Publishing, as the first standalone in a three-book deal. You can now read an excerpt or listen to an excerpt from the audiobook and preorder the book in hardcover, ebook, or audiobook format! More book updates will appear here.
The moment Fetter is born, Mother-of-Glory pins his shadow to the earth with a large brass nail and tears it from him. This is his first memory, the seed of many hours of therapy to come.
— from The Saint of Bright Doors (2023)
A few short fiction highlights: Peristalsis ❧ The Translator, at Low Tide (Sturgeon finalist) ❧ On the Origin of Specie ❧ Documentary ❧ Applied Cenotaphics of the Long, Long Longitudes. You can see the whole list at Publications.
Other projects: fiction editor at Strange Horizons (2016–2022); administered and co-judged the Dream Foundry Writing Contest for beginning writers (2020-2021); co-admin of the Free Ahnaf Jazeem translation project (2020–2022).
Social media: I’m moderately active on Twitter, Mastodon, and Instagram. I have a Patreon if you want to support me! Sometimes I post behind-the-scenes updates exclusively there, as well as the occasional patrons-only essay.
Other than that, all updates, essays, reviews, &c. all go on my blog, to which you can also subscribe in newsletter form here:
Current header image: a 1518 engraving, Allegory of Death and Fame, by Agostino Veneziano.
Vajra Chandrasekera 