Ted Chiang (Chinese: 姜峯楠; pinyin: Jiāng Fēngnán; born 1967) is an American science fiction writer.

[2] Chiang is also a frequent non-fiction contributor to the New Yorker, where he writes on topics related to computing such as artificial intelligence.

[7] Chiang grew up in Long Island and, at age 15, began submitting science fiction stories to magazines.

[12][13] As of July 2002[update], Chiang was working as a technical writer in the software industry and resided in Bellevue, Washington, near Seattle.

[19] Chiang has said Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke inspired him when he was young,[20] while the works of Gene Wolfe, John Crowley and Edward Bryant were his creative influences in college.

[21] Chiang has said that one of the reasons science fiction writing interests him is that it allows him to make philosophical questions "storyable".

[22] Critic John Clute has written that Chiang's work has a "tight-hewn and lucid style... [which] has a magnetic effect on the reader".

[23] Critic and poet Joyce Carol Oates wrote that Chiang explores "conventional tropes of science fiction in highly unconventional ways" in "teasing, tormenting, illuminating, thrilling" fashion, comparing him favorably to Philip K. Dick, James Tiptree Jr. and Jorge Luis Borges.

"[25] Former US president Barack Obama included Chiang's short story collection Exhalation in his 2019 reading list, praising it as the "best kind of science fiction".

[60][61] As of 2016, Chiang lives in Bellevue, Washington, with his long-time partner, Marcia Glover,[62] whom he met while they both were working at Microsoft.