Karen Lord (born 22 May 1968) is a Barbadian writer of speculative fiction. Her first novel, Redemption in Indigo (2010), retells the story "Ansige Karamba the Glutton" from Senegalese folklore and her second novel, The Best of All Possible Worlds (2013), is an example of social science fiction. Lord also writes on the sociology of religion.For instance, "Negotiating identity: the Christian individual and the secular institution".

Biography Karen Lord was born in Barbados.Karen Lord biography at The Cooke Agency. . She attended Queen's College in Bridgetown, and earned a science degree from the University of Toronto and a PhD in the sociology of religion from Bangor UniversityWorldCat library record of Ph.D. thesis, Bangor University 2008, Karen Antoinette Roberta Lord: (conferred in 2008, the first year of its independence from the University of Wales).

Novels

Lord's debut novel, Redemption in Indigo,y was originally published in the United States in 2010 by Small Beer Press, and was republished in England in 2012 by Quercus under its Jo Fletcher Books imprint for SF, fantasy, and horror titles.Karen Lord page at Jo Fletcher Books. The New York Times called it "a clever, exuberant mix of Caribbean and Senegalese influences that balances riotously funny set pieces ... with serious drama", the Caribbean Review of Books commented that the novel is "very sprightly from start to finish, with vivid descriptions, memorable heroes and villains, brisk pacing", and it was summed up by Booklist as "one of those literary works of which it can be said that not a word should be changed".Booklist, 15 May 2010.

The Best of All Possible Worlds was published by Jo Fletcher Books/Quercus and Del Rey Books/Random House in 2013. One reviewer called it "a thoughtful and emotional novel ... one of the most enjoyable books I've recently read","REVIEW: The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord" at Upcoming4.me, 13 June 2014. . while Nalo Hopkinson wrote in the Los Angeles Review of Books: "The Best of All Possible Worlds put me in mind of Junot Díaz’s brilliant novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Not stylistically: while Oscar Wao is an experimental pelau of modes served up in Díaz’s distinctly Dominicano and in-your-face voice, The Best of All Possible Worlds is a beautiful shape-shifter."

The Galaxy Game, which was released on 6 January 2015 from Del Rey Books/Random House,The Galaxy Game page at Random House. was described in an early review as "a satisfying exercise in being off-balance, a visceral lesson in how to fall forward and catch yourself in an amazing new place." Publishers Weekly referred to it as a "subtle, cerebral novel","The Galaxy Game" (review), Publishers Weekly, 6 October 2014. while The Guardians reviewer wrote that "the novel is a leisurely exploration of multiple societies, power-politics and race relations, in which discursive plot lines deceive before cohering in a satisfying finale."

The Blue, Beautiful World was published in August 2023 by Del Rey in the US and Gollancz in the UK. It was described in The Guardian as a "complex, engaging novel [...] with a warmth and intelligence reminiscent of Ursula K Le Guin." The Big Issue characterised it as "infused with a kind of forward-thinking empathy and respect" and noted that the novel "has a lot to say about post-colonialism, though [Lord] plays with those ideas in a subtle and open-hearted fashion."

Short stories Lord's short story "Hiraeth: A Tragedy in Four Acts" was published in the anthology Reach for Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan (2014), and she contributed the short story "Cities of the Sun" to Margaret Busby's 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa. Also in 2019, Lord wrote "The Plague Doctors" for Take us to a Better Place: Stories, produced by Melcher Media and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Lord's short stories "Legend" (2022) and "A Timely Horizon" (2023) were published in The Sunday Morning Transport, edited by Julian Yap and Fran Wilde.. In 2025, Lord wrote "Take Three" for Sound Systems: The Future of the Orchestra, edited by Alex Laing, Joey Eschrich, and Ed Finn.

Awards Redemption in Indigo won the 2008 Frank Collymore Literary Endowment Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript, the 2010 Carl Brandon Society Parallax Award, the 2011 Crawford Award, the 2011 Mythopoeic Award, and the 2012 Kitschies Golden Tentacle Award for the Best Debut Novel.

Redemption in Indigo was also nominated for the 2011 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel and for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer,"Karen Lord - Award Bibliography", Internet Speculative Fiction Database. and longlisted for the 2011 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature.

The Blue, Beautiful World was longlisted for the 2024 Women's Prize for Fiction.

We Will Rise Again (edited with Annalee Newitz & Malka Older) won the Locus Award for Best Anthology in 2026. It won the 2026 Ignyte Award for Outstanding Anthology/Collected Works.

Lord was a finalist for the 2026 Ember Award.

Bibliography

Novels Redemption in Indigo. Small Beer Press, Jo Fletcher Books/Quercus, 2010. (), 2012. The Best of All Possible Worlds. Jo Fletcher Books, 2013. (hardback ; paperback ).

Unravelling. DAW Books, 2019. (). The Blue, Beautiful World. Del Rey, 2023. (). Reprints/other editions

As editor New Worlds, Old Ways: Speculative Tales from the Caribbean. Peepal Tree Press, 2016; Reclaim, Restore, Return: Futurist Tales from the Caribbean. Caribbean Futures Institute. 2020; ASIN B0DM2J76XD We Will Rise Again: Speculative Stories and Essays on Protest, Resistance, and Hope. S&S/Saga Press, 2025;

Critical studies and reviews of Lord's work The Best of all Possible Worlds

The Galaxy Game

Interviews Richard Fidler, "Writer and academic Karen Lord finds inspiration in folklore", Conversations (radio interview), ABC, Australia, 5 March 2013. Gavin Grant, "Karen Lord: An author's brave new world", BookPage, 18 January 2013. The Spaces Between the Words: Conversations with Writers (a podcast series affiliated with the Literatures in English section at The University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus and The Caribbean Review of Books) "Nalo Hopkinson and Karen Lord in Conversation: Caribbean Folklore, Lovecraft, and More" (Locus Roundtable Podcast with Karen Burnham, 4 November 2011) Podcast Interview on Bibliophile Stalker (with Charles Tan), 4 November 2011 Interview with Chesya Burke at the World SF Blog, 29 August 2011 "Karen Burnham and Karen Lord in Conversation: Science, Communication, and Society" (Locus Roundtable Podcast), 3 August 2011 "Karen Lord: Dual Reality": Excerpts from an interview in Locus Magazine, 11 August 2011 Jeremy L. C. Jones, "Always a New World: A Conversation with Karen Lord", Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 77, February 2013. Rhiannon Brown, "Karen Lord's Possible Worlds", ABC Radio National, 26 January 2014. "A Conversation with Karen Lord". Interview by Marta Fernández Campa. Caribbean Literary Heritage, 23 April 2018.

References

External links

Karen Lord official website Karen Lord at Tumblr Karen Lord at Small Beer Press "Joint Review: The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord", The Book Smugglers, 1 February 2013