Author Archives: Wren James

Last June I was commissioned by the West Midlands Readers Network to meet with Warwickshire Pride’s book club and quiz them about what they’d like to read the most. I then went away and wrote a short story to fit their demands! They wanted to read about trans+, poly characters in their twenties and thirties,Continue reading “New Anthology Story + Sparks Program”

The best advice I’ve been given as a writer always comes from my agent. She reads my first drafts in their truly terrible initial form. Every time she identifies a key weakness in my writing, whether that’s making sure each scene serves a purpose, varying my sentence structure more imaginatively, or avoiding describing all ofContinue reading “The Best Advice I’ve Received as a Writer”

Dianna Wynne Jones. Lois McMaster Bujold. Susannah Clarke. Madeline Miller. Mary Robinette Kowal. N. K. Jemisin. Naomi Novik. Becky Chambers. Ursula K Le Guin. Just a few of the female authors of science fiction and fantasy who’ve crafted the genre into what it is today. Science fiction has been sculpted by women, from Margaret Cavendish’sContinue reading “Great Minds”

Arthur C Clarke once said that, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” As a science fiction writer, I can confirm that this is true. Most of my story ideas come from intriguing scientific theories which have caught my attention. Whether that’s a hypothesis for how time travel might be feasible using black holes,Continue reading “Magic as Science. Science as Magic.”

During the summer holidays at the age of sixteen, I spent a heavenly six weeks grinding freeze-dried honeybees into powder in one of Warwick University’s science labs. I’d captured the bees myself, bedecked in a white suit and mask, from a local beekeeper’s wildflower meadow hives. Once they were thoroughly decimated with a pestle andContinue reading “Time Capsules”

Hi, Wren! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself? I’m a queer writer of science fiction and thrillers from the Midlands in the UK. I’ve been writing since I got a book deal in my last year of university. Originally I planned to just write for a ‘gap year’ and then get aContinue reading “Interview with Wren”

Writing is activism. Over a decade as a published author, I’ve come to learn this. It’s subtle, and slow working, but incredibly effective. My book about climate magicians, Green Rising, was recently used to kickstart a discussion of climate-friendly investments in a book club for fossil fuel bankers and their families. In Green Rising, teenagersContinue reading “Writing to change the world”

When I walk into my local bookshop these days, the shelves burst with a rainbow of queer representation. Every time I scroll through Instagram, there are dozens of recommendations for bright pastel-toned romances featuring characters of all genders and sexualities. Last Night at the Telegraph Club, a Young Adult novel by Malinda Lo, a ChineseContinue reading “Why we need literary pride”

This year I was given an honorary award as an alumni of University of Nottingham, and gave a speech at the Sciences graduation ceremony. I thought I’d share the transcript of the speech. I’m very honoured for the chance to talk to you all. Ten years ago, I collected my own degree in this veryContinue reading “UoN Graduation address”

I grew up in fandom. BBC Merlin, Doctor Who and Teen Wolf are some which I’m willing to admit to – but I was never picky. I was always more interested in the fans themselves than the fandom’s chosen media property of interest. I loved digging into the dramas going on within a fan community.Continue reading “The trials and tribulations of fandom culture”