Tade Thompson FRSL is a British psychiatrist and writer of Yoruba descent. He is best known for his 2016 science fiction novel Rosewater, which won a Nommo Award and an Arthur C. Clarke Award.
Life and career Thompson was born in London, England, to Yoruba parents. His family left the United Kingdom for Nigeria in 1976, when Thompson was seven. He grew up in Nigeria, where he studied medicine and social anthropology. He went on to specialise in psychiatry. He returned to the UK in 1998, where he has remained, except for a year spent working in Samoa.
As well as being an author, Thompson also works full-time at St James' Hospital, Portsmouth, where he specializes in mental illnesses in people with physical problems. In July 2020, he told The Guardian that he could not imagine leaving medicine, saying: “The hospital work is a calling. I help people.”
Thompson is also an illustrator and artist.
Reception and awards
Thompson's novels and short stories have been critically well received, with critics commenting on their originality and breadth of vision. Thompson was a John W. Campbell Award finalist and has been shortlisted for the Shirley Jackson Award, the BSFA Award, and the Nommo Award. His novel Rosewater won the 2019 Arthur C. Clarke Award, making Thompson the second writer of black African heritage to win the prize.
In 2023, Thompson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
+ Awards and honors Year Work Award Category Result Ref. 2016 BSFA Award Short Fiction 2017 Nommo Award Novella BSFA Award Shorter Fiction Shirley Jackson Award Novella Rosewater Campbell Memorial Award — Nommo Award Novel 2018 British Fantasy Award Novella Nommo Award Novella Rosewater BSFA Award Novel 2019 Rosewater Arthur C. Clarke Award — BSFA Award Novel BSFA Award Shorter Fiction Theodore Sturgeon Award — 2020 Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire Foreign Short Fiction Locus Award Science Fiction Novel Nommo Award Novel Dragon Award Science Fiction Novel Locus Award Science Fiction Novel Philip K. Dick Award — British Fantasy Award Novella Ignyte Award Novella Hugo Award Series 2022 Far from the Light of Heaven Nommo Award Novel Philip K. Dick Award — 2023 Philip K. Dick Award — 2025"The Apologists"BSFA AwardShorter Fiction
Bibliography Novels The Wormwood Trilogy
Stand-alone
Novellas and short fiction
The Molly Southbourne Trilogy The Murders of Molly Southbourne (2017) The Survival of Molly Southbourne (2019) The Legacy of Molly Southbourne (2022)
Stand-alone "The McMahon Institute for Unquiet Minds" (2005) "Slip Road" (2009) "Shadow" (2010) "Notes from Gethsemane" (2012) "Bicycle Girl" (2013) "One Hundred and Twenty Days of Sunlight" (2013) "Slip Road" (revised) (2014) "Budo or, The Flying Orchid" (2014) "The Monkey House" (2015) "Child, Funeral, Thief, Death" (2015) "The Last Pantheon" (2015) (with Nick Wood) "Decommissioned" (2016) "Household Gods" (2016) "The Apologists" (2016) "Gnaw" (2016) "Bootblack" (2017) "Yard Dog" (2018) "Jackdaw" (2022) "Doctor Who: Icons: One Night Only" (2025)
Poems "Komolafe" (2013)
Essays The Last Word on the Last Pantheon (2016) (with Nick Wood) Please Stop Talking about the 'Rise' of African Science Fiction (2018)
Contributor "Wherefore, Nuncle?" in Encounters with James Baldwin: Celebrating 100 Years (2024)
Other work Omenana Magazine #4 (September 2015) (cover art) In Morningstar's Shadow: Dominion of the Fallen Stories by Aliette de Bodard (2015) (cover art)
Notes
References
External links