Sarah Gailey

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-09-08

Sarah Gailey was born in California and grew up in Fremont, California, where they now reside in Northern California; Gailey is non-binary and writes across horror, science fiction, fantasy, and mystery in novels, short fiction, comics, and essays. They first drew wide attention with the American Hippo duology, River of Teeth and Taste of Marrow (both 2017), an alternate history in which hippopotamus ranching transforms the American South. Gailey's other novels include Magic for Liars (2019), a fantasy murder mystery set at a magical boarding school; the young adult novel When We Were Magic (2020); the science fiction thriller The Echo Wife (2021); the gothic horror novel Just Like Home (2022); and the novella Upright Women Wanted (2020), featuring queer traveling librarians in a dystopian American West. In comics, Gailey has written Eat the Rich, an arc of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Know Your Station, and projects for Marvel. They won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 2018 and the British Fantasy Award for Best Horror Novel for Just Like Home in 2023, alongside numerous nominations for the Nebula, Locus, and Hugo awards. Gailey's essays and journalism have appeared in outlets including The Atlantic, Tor.com, and the Boston Globe, and their fiction has been translated into seven languages.

Universe(s)

Books

• Magic for Liars (2019) · Magic for Liars Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 1 book
• Award recognitions across all universes: 1 (1 finalist mention)

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