Cherae Clark, also known under the pen name C. L. Clark, is an American author and editor of speculative fiction, a personal trainer, and an English teacher. She graduated from Indiana University's creative writing MFA and was a 2012 Lambda Literary Fellow. Their^{[Notes 1]} debut novel, The Unbroken, first book of the Magic of the Lost trilogy, was published by Orbit Books in 2021 and received critical acclaim, including starred reviews at Publishers Weekly and Library Journal.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} The Unbroken was a Finalist for the 2021 Nebula Award for Best Novel, the 2022 Robert Holdstock Award for Best Fantasy Novel from the British Fantasy Awards, the 2022 Ignyte Award for Best Novel - Adult, and the 2022 Locus Award for Best First Novel.^[6][7][8][9] Her work has appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, FIYAH Literary Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, Glitter + Ashes: Queer Tales of a World That Wouldn't Die, PodCastle, Tor.com, Uncanny, and The Year's Best African Speculative Fiction (2021). Clark edited, with series editor Charles Payseur, We're Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction of 2020, which won the 2022 Ignyte Award for Best Anthology/Collected Work and the 2022 Locus Award for Best Anthology.^{[10][11][12][13][8][9]}

Biography

C. L. Clark earned an MFA in creative writing from Indiana University, was a 2012 Lambda Literary Fellow, and has studied post-colonial literary theory.^[14]

Career

Clark's short fiction has appeared in numerous publications, including Beneath Ceaseless Skies, FIYAH Literary Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, Glitter + Ashes: Queer Tales of a World That Wouldn't Die, PodCastle, Tor.com, Uncanny, The Year's Best African Speculative Fiction (2021), and The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy (2022). Her short story "You Perfect, Broken Thing", published in Uncanny Magazine, won the 2021 Ignyte Award for Best Short Story.^[15][16][17]

Clark served as a co-editor of PodCastle from 2019 to 2021.^[18] With series editor Charles Payseur, Clark edited We're Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2020, an anthology of queer speculative fiction published by Neon Hemlock.^[10] We're Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2020 won both the 2022 Ignyte Award for Best Anthology/Collected Work and the 2022 Locus Award for Best Anthology.^[8][9]

Clark's debut novel, The Unbroken, was published in 2021 and met with praise from critics, earning a starred review from both Library Journal and Publishers Weekly.^[1][2] The Unbroken was a Finalist for the 2022 Ignyte Award for Best Novel: Adult, the 2021 Nebula Award for Best Novel, the 2022 Locus Award for Best First Novel, and the 2022 British Fantasy Society's Robert Holdstock Award for Best Fantasy Novel.^{[6][7][8][9][11][12][13]}

Awards and nominations