Kelley Eskridge

Kelley Eskridge (born 1960) is a writer of fiction and nonfiction. Her work is generally regarded as speculative fiction and is associated with the more literary edge of the category, as well as with the category of slipstream fiction.

Eskridge was born in Florida in 1960. She attended St. Paul's School (U.S.) in Concord, New Hampshire (also see the school website), Northwestern University, and the University of South Florida, where she earned a BA degree in Theatre Performance.

She attended the Clarion Writers Workshop in 1988, where she met her partner, English novelist Nicola Griffith. Eskridge has published short fiction and essays since 1990 (see her bibliography at her official website). Her story "And Salome Danced" received the $11,000 Astraea Prize and was nominated for the Tiptree Prize, and her story "Alien Jane" was a finalist for the Nebula award. "Alien Jane" also received a TV adaptation on the short-lived Sci-Fi Channel Series Welcome to Paradox.

Her first novel Solitaire was published in 2002 by US Publisher HarperCollins Eos. Solitaire is character-driven science fiction set in a near-future corporate state. Solitaire was a New York Times Notable Book, a Borders Books Original Voices selection, and was nominated for the Nebula, Endeavour and Spectrum Awards.

Her work often concerns themes of hope and the reconstruction of identity.

Eskridge is now a full-time writer. She previously worked in a series of corporate positions, most recently as Vice President of Project Management at Wizards of the Coast. She lives with Nicola Griffith in Seattle.