Silvia Park (; born ) is a Korean-American writer. Her debut novel, Luminous (2025), won the Otherwise Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction.

Early life and education Silvia Park was born in Indiana but her family relocated to South Korea, where she spent the majority of her childhood. She earned a BA from Columbia University and an MFA from New York University. She attended the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop at the University of California, San Diego in 2018.

Career

Teaching Park is a professor in the English department at the University of Kansas. She has previously taught at Oberlin College, University of Utah’s Asia Campus, and NYU.

Literary career Park's short stories have been published in Black Warrior Review, Tor.com, Joyland, Sonora Review, and elsewhere. Retrieved 10-02-2026. Retrieved 10-02-2026.

Her novelette "Poor Unfortunate Fools" was published in 2018 in The Margins, a magazine published by the Asian American Writers' Workshop. It was anthologized in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019. Retrieved 10-02-2026. The story is about the efforts to save a species of mermaids and mermen. It was inspired by the real life attempt to save the life of a beached vaquita.

Her debut novel, Luminous, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2025. Park officially started writing the book in 2018, but did most of the writing during the Covid-19 pandemic. Retrieved 10-02-2026. The novel received glowing reviews, including starred reviews from Library Journal and Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 10-02-2026. Retrieved 10-02-2026. It was nominated for and received multiple awards.

Personal life Park uses "she/they" pronouns.

Awards + Awards and honors Year Work Award Category Result 2018 Sonora Review Fiction Prize — 2025 Luminous BSFA Award Novel Los Angeles Times Book Prize Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction Otherwise Award — 2026 Arthur C. Clarke Award — Dublin Literary Award — Locus Award First Novel

Bibliography

Long fiction

Short fiction

Reprinted:

Notes

References

External links

"Poor Unfortunate Fools"