Shelley Parker-Chan is a non-binary, Australian fantasy novelist best known for their debut novel, She Who Became the Sun and its sequel, He Who Drowned the World, which form The Radiant Emperor Duology.
[2] They were raised in Australia, where they felt disconnected with their racial identity and with the stereotypical representation of Asian characters in fiction.
They did graduate work on the subjects of war crimes and restorative justice,[5] and worked as a diplomat, representing the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Timor-Leste, and as an international development adviser for gender equality and LGBTQ rights in Indonesia,[6]before becoming a writer.
Their interest in writing novels began with romantic fan fiction, and a desire for better queer representation in literature.
[7] In 2021, Mantle Books published She Who Became the Sun, which became a Sunday Times Number 1 bestseller, won several awards, and has been translated into 15 languages.