Shelley Parker-Chan
Is a New Zealand native born to a Malaysian-Chinese mother and a white father. They identify as both Queer and Gender Queer. In their early career, they worked as an international development adviser. This meant they focused on economically disadvantaged regions to overcome poverty (1). They also have experience working for human and LGBTQ+ rights, as well as gender equality in Southeast Asia (2). Their writing career came much later. Like some other fantasy authors, they first started writing fan fiction in the romance genre. They then decided to move forward into longer narrative fantasy.
Growing up, Parker-Chan felt disconnected from their sense of identity. They felt as if Asian representation in media was stereotypical. This was reinforced by their parents, who sent high career expectations that didn't align with what Parker-Chan wanted to achieve. In young adulthood Shelley Parker-Chan moved to Asia. There, they were exposed to more Asian focused media and representation. Parker-Chan was able to see themselves in any type of character and decided to bring that feeling back with them to the UK.
She Who Became The Sun
Framed in the genre of historical fantasy, Shelly Parker-Chan retells the story of the Chinese Hongwu Emperor in the 14th century from1368-1398. A village fortune teller opens the story by describing the fates of two children. The children will come from a peasant family, where the male child will achieve while the female child will not. This fate will come true with Zhu Chongba. Zhu is the eighth son born to a peasant family and is the son who was given the fate of greatness by the teller. When the father of the family is murdered, Zhu succumbs to the grief and dies. The second daughter of the family, who was given the fate of death, adopts her late brother's identity to escape her own fate. The story follows her tale of survival and journey to achieve her late brother's greatness.Shelley Parker-Chan describing She Who Became The Sun in their own words
Released in 2021, She Who Became The Sun quickly became a popular read in the fantasy genre. In 2022 it received the British Fantasy Award for Best Novel (3). Ainger Loren Wilson of Lightspeed Magazine describes the story as "I felt like I was absolutely wrapped up in an intense Chinese drama where I needed to see the complicated villain get both their revenge and comeuppance"(4). Shelley Parker-Chan explores themes of identity, morality and survival in a way that creates a complicated feeling for the reader. Eliot Schrefer of USA Today says, "this is an important debut that expands our concept of who gets to be a hero and a villain, and introduces a pair of gender disruptors who are destined to change China-and the LGBTQ fantasy cannon-forever" (5).
I believe that the idea to gender-bend a well-known historical figure is a brave and interesting move. Parker-Chan uses their writing to discuss the idea of gender and how culture can intersect. I was not familiar with any non-binary writers before looking into Parker-Chan. Identifying with being non-binary comes with its struggles, but Parker-Chan is unapologetically themselves. While it was difficult to find details about Parker-Chan, I believe that it's important to bring attention to voices who talk about the more difficult topics in media.
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Shelley Parker-Chan describing She Who Became The Sun in their own words
(1). “What Is International Development?” Concern Worldwide, www.concern.org.uk/what-is-international-development. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.
(2). Parker-Chan, Shelley. “About - Shelley Parker.” Chan, 12 Sept. 2023, shelleyparkerchan.com/about-shelley/. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.
(3). “British Fantasy Awards Books.” Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Awards, sffawards.com/awards/british-fantasy/. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
(4). Wagner, Wendy. “Book Review: She Who Became the Sun, by Shelley Parker-Chan.” Lightspeed Magazine, 10 Feb. 2022, www.lightspeedmagazine.com/nonfiction/book-review-she-who-became-the-sun-by-shelley-parker-chan/. Accessed 13 Oct. 2026.
(5). Schrefer, Eliot. “Review: ‘she Who Became the Sun’ Is an Important Entry in the LGBTQ Fantasy Canon.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 22 July 2021, www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2021/07/20/she-who-became-sun-important-entry-lgbtq-fantasy-canon/7973314002/. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.
(5).
Using real figures and bending them is a very high risk high reward, and from what the reviews say, and your description, sounds like it was done really well. I personally like the idea a lot, it gives them the ability to expand the story even more and lean more into the book’s purpose and themes.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard about this author so I loved reading about them. I think all the work they've done for gender equality is amazing. there are not much non binary writers so I liked learning about another as well.
ReplyDeleteNot too fimilair with this author but I liked their works they had done, also the structure of the blog looks nicely done. You don't see too many non binary authors these days so seeing this is new.
ReplyDeleteI find it cool that the author did development work in Asia before writing an ancient Asian history fiction book. Combined with their perspective on being queer with traditional, overbearing parents.
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