Ken Liu

Ken Liu
Portrait of Ken Liu by Lisa Tang Liu, 2014
Born
刘宇昆; Liú Yǔkūn

1976 (age 49–50)
Lanzhou, Gansu, China
Occupation
  • Author
  • Lawyer
  • Programmer
  • Translator
NationalityAmerican
GenreScience fiction, fantasy
Notable works
  • The Paper Menagerie (2011)
  • The Grace of Kings (2015)
  • The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories (2016)
  • The Hidden Girl and Other Stories (2020)
  • All That We See or Seem (2025)
Notable awards
SpouseLisa Kaiyee Tang Liu
Website
kenliu.name
Ken Liu
Traditional Chinese劉宇昆
Simplified Chinese刘宇昆
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinLiú Yǔkūn
IPA[ljǒʊ ỳ.kʰwə́n]

Kenneth Yukun Liu (born 1976) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. Liu has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards for his fiction, which has appeared in F&SF, Asimov's Science Fiction, Analog, Lightspeed, Clarkesworld, Reactor, Uncanny Magazine and multiple "Year's Best" anthologies.

Liu's debut epic fantasy novel series, The Dandelion Dynasty, is described as silkpunk, a term coined by him to encapsulate the way it blends the material culture and philosophical roots of East Asian antiquity in an alternative vision of modernity.

Liu has also written a new scifi thriller series, Julia Z, which features a hacker with a specialty in AI and robotics.

In addition to his original fiction, Liu has also translated some notable Chinese science fiction works into English, winning Hugo Awards for these translations as well.