Mari Ness
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mari Ness | |
|---|---|
 Mari Ness in January 2020 | |
| Born | c. 1971 |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Nationality | American |
| Genre | Science fiction and fantasy |
| Website | |
| marikness | |
Mari Ness (born c. 1971) is an American poet, author, and critic. She has multiple publications in various science fiction and fantasy magazines and anthologies.[1] Her work has been published in Apex Magazine,[2] Clarkesworld, Daily Science Fiction,[3] Fantasy Magazine,[3] Fireside Magazine,[4] Lightspeed,[5] Nightmare Magazine, Strange Horizons,[3][6] Tor.com,[7] and Uncanny Magazine.[8] In Locus, Paula Guran said of The Girl and the House that Ness: "subverts and glorifies the clichés and tropes of every gothic novel ever written, in less than 1,800 words"[9] In 2025, her poem "Ever Noir" was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Poem.[10]
Ness has been a panelist and guest at a number of science fiction conventions, including Worldcon in San Antonio in 2013, London in 2014, Dublin in 2019, and Glasgow in 2024. She has also appeared at OASIS 2019 in Orlando, Florida,[11] and was scheduled to appear at CoNZealand 2020 in Wellington, New Zealand.[12]
Ness is also noted for her critical reassessment of classic literary works.[13][14][15] Among other analysis, she critiques the presence or lack of an appropriate disability narrative in works where characters have obvious disabilities.[16] Her column on Tor.com, "Disney Read-Watch," which discussed Disney animated films and the classic tales that underlaid them,[17] was a finalist for one of Reddit's 2016 "Stabby" Awards, given by the r/Fantasy subreddit for works related to the genre.[18][19]
Her work has appeared in several anthologies, some of which have been reviewed in Publishers Weekly.[20][21] Her short story, "The Ceremony", published in Fireside Quarterly in 2018, was on Locus's recommended reading list in 2018.,[22] as was her short story, "The Ruby of the Summer King," published in Lightspeed.[23] Her other fiction that appeared in Lightspeed was noted favorably by Locus in 2017.[24]
Personal life
She lives in central Florida, though she has lived in upstate New York previously. Ness is a wheelchair user due to postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and vertigo.[25][26] On occasion her experience with these informs her characters and stories and so too does her interests in technology and mythology and how they can resolve or cause issues.[27][28] She also uses her position to call out events which are insufficiently accessible for people with disabilities.[29][30]
