Zen Cho is a Malaysian fantasy author based in Birmingham, United Kingdom. She is known for her Sorcerer to the Crown series. She was the joint winner of the Crawford Award in 2015 for her short story collection Spirits Abroad.
Biography Cho has a law degree from University of Cambridge, and she works as a lawyer.
Cho's debut novel, Sorcerer to the Crown, was published in 2015. It was a finalist for the Locus Award for Best First Novel in 2016, and in the same year, Cho won the British Fantasy Award for Best Newcomer. Her novelette "If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again", published by the B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog, won the 2019 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.
Spirits Abroad: Stories (2021) Retrieved 2026-05-04. was awarded the Ray Bradbury Prize by the 2021 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Retrieved 2026-05-02.
Awards
Year Title Award Category Result Ref2015 Spirits Abroad Crawford Award — Sorcerer to the Crown Otherwise Award — 2016British Fantasy Award Newcomer Fantasy Novel Locus Award First Novel 2019 Hugo Award Novelette 2021 British Fantasy Award Novella Lambda Literary Award Sci-fi, Fantasy, and Horror Locus Award Novella Black Water Sister Kitschies Red Tentacle (Novel) 2022 Ignyte Award Adult Novel Locus Award Fantasy Novel RUSA CODES Reading List Fantasy World Fantasy Award Novel Spirits Abroad Locus Award Collection
Bibliography
Sorcerer Royal series
Standalone novels and long fiction
Collections
Notes
References
External links