China Miéville

Born in Norwich, China Miéville grew up in Willesden, north-west London. As an eighteen-year-old, he spent a year in Egypt as an English teacher, which left him with an enduring interest in Arab culture and in Middle Eastern politics. Miéville studied social anthropology at Clare College Cambridge, and subsequently completed his Master’s degree and PhD in international law at the London School of Economics. During his studies he also received a fellowship to Harvard University and in 2012-13 was a writer-in-residence at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Miéville became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2015.

Spanning urban fantasy, steampunk and what Miéville himself has described as ‘New Weird’ fiction, his novels employ supernatural and fantastical elements and sweeping socio-political themes. In 1999, he published his debut King Rat in 1999 to huge critical acclaim. Perdido Street Station, the opening book in the New Crobuzon series, came out in 2000 and was followed by The Scar (2002) and Iron Council (2004) – Miéville’s revisionist take on a Western and perhaps his most overtly political novel, strongly inspired by the anti-globalization movement. His other works include Kraken (2010), Embassy Town (2011), The Book of Elsewhere (2024) cowritten with Keanu Reeves, and The Rouse (2026).