Adrian Tchaikovsky

Adrian Tchaikovsky

Adrian Czajkowski (spelt as Adrian Tchaikovsky for his books; born June 1972) is a British fantasy and science fiction author. Heavily influenced by the natural world, his books frequently deal with themes of artificial intelligence and alienness, often in the context of non-human characters. He is best known for his series Shadows of the Apt, and for his Hugo Award-winning Children of Time series.

Tchaikovsky has received numerous awards for his work. Children of Time was awarded the 30th Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2016. Author James Lovegrove described it as "superior stuff, tackling big themes – gods, messiahs, artificial intelligence, alienness – with brio".

Biography

Adrian Tchaikovsky

Adrian Czajkowski was born in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire in June 1972. He is of Polish descent. He cites the natural world as an early influence, along with naturalists such as Gerald Durrell and David Attenborough, and he was fascinated by the Natural History Museum. "From there", he says in interview, "wanting to understand the behaviour – the minds – of the nonhuman started to take precedence."

He studied zoology and psychology at the University of Reading although he eventually became disillusioned with the content of the course. He then qualified as a legal executive. He was employed as a legal executive for the Commercial Dispute Department of Blacks, Solicitors, of Leeds until late 2018 when he became a full-time writer.

Tchaikovsky's first foray into writing was in 1996 when he submitted several stories for publication in Xenos magazine. In the early 2000s, he won Xenos's annual competition with the short story The Roar of the Crowd, only for the magazine to fold pre-publication.

In 2008, after Tchaikovsky had spent fifteen years trying to get published, his novel Empire in Black and Gold was finally published by Tor Books (UK) – an imprint of Pan Macmillan – in the United Kingdom. The series was later published in America by Pyr Books. Tchaikovsky expressed the desire that the Polish editions of his novels feature the original Polish spelling of his surname, but these too used "Tchaikovsky".

On 23 January 2019, Tchaikovsky was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of the Arts by the University of Lincoln.

Writing career

Adrian Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky revealed the basis of Shadows of the Apt in an online essay entitled "Entering the Shadows" at Upcoming4.me.

Whilst studying at the University of Reading, he managed a role-playing game named Bugworld. The game concerned the story of the insect-people of the Lowlands threatened by the encroaching Wasp Empire. From this original scenario, the entire series of books grew.

Tchaikovsky still uses role-playing games to help develop his stories, but now also uses live action role-playing, which assists in describing the numerous action and battle sequences in his books. He is currently involved with the LARP game Empire.

Tchaikovsky has regularly expressed his intention regarding the Shadows of the Apt series not to make science better than magic, or vice versa: "This is another key element, really: the magic/tech divide is a concept that turns up here and there in fantasy, but usually one side is good (mostly magic) and the other (dirty polluting tech) is bad. With the world of the kinden, they're basically both as bad as the people who use them, whether it's blood sacrifice in a Mantis-kinden grove or the Wasp Empire's city-levelling weaponry."

In 2025, with Emma Newman, he launched a new podcast, Starship Alexandria. In this the presenters alternate presenting a work (novel, film, comic book) for the other to read and judge whether the work should be preserved for posterity.

Themes

Adrian Tchaikovsky

Themes in Tchaikovsky's books include: "the frailties of human bureaucracy and the difficulty we have in seeing beyond the human perspective," and "the terrible things we do to each other and the dogged resistance offered by the victim-participants in the vile mills of misery that are totalizing governments and wars of aggression." Critics have commented positively on his "definitive" depiction of alien civilizations and his treatment of "huge themes about belief, artificial intelligence, legacy, discovery, alienness and much more." In an interview with Jon Sutton for the British Psychological Society, Tchaikovsky says that "Human perception of time is one of the biggest limitations of being human," and that this shortcoming lies behind many current problems, such as climate change.

Awards and nominations

Adrian Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky has received the following literary awards and nominations:

<table><thead><tr><th>Year</th><th>Work</th><th>Award</th><th>Category</th><th>Result</th><th>Ref.</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>2014</td><td>"Family Business"</td><td>British Fantasy Award</td><td>Short Story</td><td>Shortlisted</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2016</td><td>Children of Time</td><td>Arthur C. Clarke Award</td><td>—</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Guns of the Dawn</td><td>British Fantasy Award</td><td>Fantasy Novel</td><td>Shortlisted</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2017</td><td>The Tiger and the Wolf</td><td>British Fantasy Award</td><td>Fantasy Novel</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2019</td><td>Children of Ruin</td><td>BSFA Award</td><td>Novel</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2020</td><td>Cage of Souls</td><td>Arthur C. Clarke Award</td><td>—</td><td>Shortlisted</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>The Doors of Eden</td><td>Sidewise Award for Alternate History</td><td>Long-form</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2021</td><td>Philip K. Dick Award</td><td>—</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Shards of Earth</td><td>BSFA Award</td><td>Novel</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2022</td><td>City of Last Chances</td><td>BSFA Award</td><td>Novel</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Elder Race</td><td>Hugo Award</td><td>Novella</td><td>Finalist</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Ursula K. Le Guin Prize</td><td>—</td><td>Shortlisted</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Ogres</td><td>BSFA Award</td><td>Short Fiction</td><td>Shortlisted</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Shards of Earth</td><td>Dragon Award</td><td>Science Fiction Novel</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Locus Award</td><td>Science Fiction Novel</td><td>Finalist</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2023</td><td>And Put Away Childish Things</td><td>BSFA Award</td><td>Shorter Fiction</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Children of Memory</td><td>Dragon Award</td><td>Science Fiction Novel</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>The Children of Time series</td><td>Hugo Award</td><td>Series</td><td>Won§</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Eyes of the Void</td><td>Locus Award</td><td>Science Fiction Novel</td><td>Finalist</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Ogres</td><td>British Fantasy Award</td><td>Novella</td><td>Shortlisted</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Hugo Award</td><td>Novella</td><td>Finalist</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Locus Award</td><td>Novella</td><td>Finalist</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2024</td><td>Alien Clay</td><td>BSFA Award</td><td>Novel</td><td>Shortlisted§</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>City of Last Chances</td><td>Locus Award</td><td>Fantasy Novel</td><td>Finalist</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>The Final Architecture</td><td>Hugo Award</td><td>Series</td><td>Finalist</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>House of Open Wounds</td><td>Dragon Award</td><td>Fantasy Novel</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Lords of Uncreation</td><td>Locus Award</td><td>Science Fiction Novel</td><td>Finalist</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Saturation Point</td><td>BSFA Award</td><td>Shorter Fiction</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2025</td><td>Alien Clay</td><td>Hugo Award</td><td>Novel</td><td>Finalist</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Locus Award</td><td>Science Fiction Novel</td><td>Finalist</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Philip K. Dick Award</td><td>—</td><td>Special Citation</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Service Model</td><td>Arthur C. Clarke Award</td><td>—</td><td>Shortlisted</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Hugo Award</td><td>Novel</td><td>Finalist</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Locus Award</td><td>Science Fiction Novel</td><td>Finalist</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>RUSA Reading List</td><td>Science Fiction Novel</td><td>Shortlisted</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>The Tyrant Philosophers</td><td>Hugo Award</td><td>Series</td><td>Finalist</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

Film adaptations

Adrian Tchaikovsky

In June 2025, the production companies Edith's Daughter (Cynthia Erivo's company) and Platinum Dunes announced that they will be producing an adaptation of Tchaikovsky's Saturation Point novel for Universal Pictures. The screenplay will be adapted by Minnie Schedeen.

Critical studies and reviews of Tchaikovsky's work

Adrian Tchaikovsky

• West, Michelle (July–August 2020). "Musing on Books". F&SF. 139 (1&2): 88‒94. Archived from the original on 18 July 2020.