Sam Hawke

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-08-26

Sam Hawke is a lawyer by training and a black belt in ju-jitsu who resides in Canberra, Australia. Her debut novel, City of Lies, the first installment of the Poison War series, achieved widespread recognition, winning both the Ditmar Award for Best Novel and the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel jointly, and earning her a nomination for the Astounding Award for Best New Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer at the 2020 Hugo Awards. City of Lies follows a poison-tester and a spymaster's apprentice defending a besieged city, blending political intrigue with intimate family relationships and unconventional magic rooted in poison-craft. She continued the series with Hollow Empire, the next installment in the Poison War saga, expanding the political scope of her invented world. Hawke's background in law and martial arts is often cited as informing the meticulous, procedural quality of her worldbuilding and the physical precision of her action sequences. Her debut established her as a notable emerging voice in speculative fiction, praised for combining tightly plotted political fantasy with genuine emotional depth, and she has become recognized within the Australian speculative fiction community as an award-winning author of series fantasy centered on loyalty, sacrifice, and statecraft.

Universe(s)

Books

• City of Lies (2018) · The Poison Wars Core Canon
• Hollow Empire (2020) · The Poison Wars Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 2 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 0 (None recorded)

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