Emily Tesh

2 universes Last reviewed 2026-08-19

Emily Tesh is a British author of science fiction and fantasy who grew up in London and has written stories since childhood. She studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, and later at the University of Chicago, and currently works as a classics teacher in Hertfordshire, England. Tesh began her fiction career with the Greenhollow duology, Silver in the Wood (2019) and Drowned Country (2020), lyrical novellas reworking Green Man folklore, which won the 2020 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella. She earned the 2021 Astounding Award for Best New Writer. Her debut novel, Some Desperate Glory (2023), a science fiction story following a young soldier named Kyr through the moral reckonings of a devastating interstellar war, won the 2024 Hugo Award for Best Novel and was widely acclaimed for its sharp interrogation of militarism and found family. Her 2025 novel The Incandescent, set at an elite magical school and narrated from the perspective of its Director of Magic, drew further nominations for major genre awards including the Nebula, Locus, and Mythopoeic Awards. Tesh's fiction is noted for combining rigorous worldbuilding with close attention to classical and pastoral literary traditions, reflecting both her academic training and her teaching career.

Universe(s)

Books

• Silver in the Wood (2019) · Greenhollow Duology Core Canon
• Drowned Country (2020) · Greenhollow Duology Core Canon
• The Incandescent (2025) · The Incandescent Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

These are separate, unrelated universes; the totals below are plain sums of already-published per-universe facts, never a blended or averaged score across them. See each universe's own figures above.

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 3 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 2 (1 won, 1 finalist mention)

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