Ursula Vernon

(May 28, 1977 — )

The author and illustrator of Nurk, Digger, Harriet the Hamster Princess, Dragonbreath, and a number of other illustrated projects, Ursula Vernon has also published numerous adult and young adult speculative fiction works, including several reimagined folktales, The Clocktaur Wars duology, and Summer in Orcus, the illustrated version of which was a finalist for the WSFS Award for Best Young Adult Book.

After an unfortunate mixup between her children's fiction and her adult fiction, she took to writing much of her adult fiction under the penname of T. Kingfisher.

She won the 2012 Best Graphic Story Hugo and the 2017 Best Novelette Hugo, as well as a Nebula Award and two Mythopoeic Awards. Her work has also been nominated for an Eisner Award and a number of Webcomics Choice Awards.

Much of her work features anthropomorphic animals, and she is a popular guest at furry conventions; she has won numerous of their Cóyotl Awards, Ursa Major Awards, and Leo Awards.

She and her husband, Kevin Sonney, produce The Hidden Almanac, a speculative fact and fiction podcast where "H. P. Lovecraft meets Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac", and the Kevin and Ursula Eat Cheap podcast, where they get inebriated and discuss just about anything while taste-testing bizarre or unusual (and generally terrible) pre-packaged foods, much of which is sent to them by fans.

Vernon is also a prolific painter and the creator of The Biting Pear of Salamanca, a work which became an internet meme in the form of the "LOL WUT" pear.

The daughter of an artist, she spent her youth attempting to rebel and become a scientist. She earned a degree in anthropology before becoming a genre artist and author. She is an avid gardener, birdwatcher, and role-playing gamer, and entertains her Twitter followers with livetweets from her RPG sessions and photos and stories of the exploits of her garden and of their animal menagerie, which includes cats, dogs, The Chickens, and The Surprise Rooster.

• "Jackalope Wives" by Ursula Vernon, read by LeVar Barton on his podcast.
• Text of Ursula Vernon's 2017 Hugo Award Acceptance Speech.
• Video of Ursula Vernon's 2012 Hugo Award Acceptance Speech.
• Website.
• Bibliography at ISFDB.

Awards, Honors and GoHships:

• 2001 -- Kublacon 2001
• 2003 -- Trinoc*coN 2003
• 2008 -- Technicon 25
• 2011 -- MarsCon 2011, DucKon 20
• 2012 -- ConQuesT 43, MystiCon 2012, Bubonicon 44, 2012 Best Graphic Story Hugo
• 2013 -- Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature
• 2014 -- Mythcon 45, TM at Windycon 41, Baycon 2014
• 2015 -- Chessiecon 2015, MileHiCon 47, Foolscap 17 Nebula Award for Best Short Story, Alfie Award for Best Short Story, WSFA Small Press Award
• 2016 -- ConCarolinas 2016, Mythopoeic Award for Children's Literature
• 2017 -- Arisia '17, TM at Bubonicon 49, 2017 Best Novelette Hugo, WSFA Small Press Award
• 2019 -- Bubonicon 51
• 2020 -- Readercon 31
• 2021 -- NESFA Press Guest at Boskone 58, VCON 2021, 2021 Lodestar Award, WSFA Small Press Award
• 2022 -- Capclave 2022, World Fantasy Convention 2022
• 2023 -- Conversation
• 2024 -- Minicon 57, RavenCon 17, Finncon 2024, Bubonicon 55
• numerous Cóyotl Awards, Ursa Major Awards, and Leo Awards

---

Person

1977—

This is a biography page. Please extend it by adding more information about the person, such as fanzines and apazines published, awards, clubs, conventions worked on, GoHships, impact on fandom, external links, anecdotes, etc. See Standards for People and The Naming of Names.