Lee Harris (editor)

Lee Harris (born 1968) is a British editor of science fiction, fantasy and horror. He is the only British editor ever to have been nominated in the Hugo Awards "short form" editing category (with two nominations), and the first British editor ever to have been nominated in the editing "long form" category.

Lee Harris
Born (1968-04-17) April 17, 1968
Cardiff, Wales
OccupationEditor
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fiction, fantasy, horror
Years active2009-present
Notable awardsNominations: Hugo Award for Best Editor (Long Form) 2014, 2022, 2023; Best Editor (Short Form) 2018 and 2019
Children2

Biography

His early jobs included actor and bartender (where he was a finalist in the Bols / Exchange Bar and Grill Cocktail Bartender of the Year competition in 1993).

He was also a director (both company director and stage director) for The Dreaming Production Company from 2003 to 2005 (now no longer operating),.[1] a professional theatre group that staged fantasy and horror-themed plays across the UK. He co-wrote and directed the first professional adaptation of a Terry Pratchett book, Eric,[2] among others.

Later he worked as a communications executive for CPP, an insurance company based in York.

Immediately prior to working in a full-time publishing role, Harris was an analyst for iOn (a division of Xerox). He was jointly responsible for setting up a new financial system that allowed the company to accurately invoice several UK government departments for their outsourced printing and copying needs.

Hub Magazine

He was the publisher of Hub Magazine[3] from 2007 until 2013. Hub Magazine was a short fiction magazine, which lasted for just two issues in print, before becoming a semi-weekly magazine. The magazine folded with issue 147. The print editions were supported by advertising, and when the magazine moved to online-only, they were sponsored by Orbit (part of Hachette), Solaris and Abaddon (part of Rebellion Publishing) and finally by HarperCollins, where Harris worked as part of the editorial staff at Angry Robot Books.

Angry Robot Books

Harris joined Angry Robot Books when they formed as part of HarperCollins UK in January 2009,[4] during which time he discovered and published authors such as Wesley Chu, Adam Christopher, Cassandra Rose Clarke and Maurice Broaddus. He started as an assistant editor, and was gradually promoted until he reached the role of senior editor in 2013.[5] He was instrumental in devising and implementing a new ebook subscription service in 2011.[6] He left Angry Robot to head up the editorial division of Macmillan's newly formed Tor.com Publishing imprint.[7]

Tordotcom Publishing

He joined the newly created Tor.com Publishing (part of Macmillan Publishing, and a sister imprint to Tor Books, since rebranded to Tordotcom Publishing) in August 2014,[8] specialising in publishing novellas,[9] though he also edits and publishes full-length novels. His authors' books have won or been nominated for the Nebula and Hugo Awards every year since the imprint's inception, and he regularly edits such authors as Martha Wells, Seanan McGuire, Nnedi Okorafor and Paul Cornell. Seanan McGuire describes him as "Amazing... he makes me better. He forces me to be better. That's a rare and precious thing."[10] In 2020 he was promoted from senior editor to executive editor.[11]

Work life

Harris travels extensively between his home in the UK and Tordotcom Publishing's Head Office on Broadway in New York. He is also a regular at several British and international conventions, including FantasyCon (UK), the World Fantasy Convention, WorldCon and CONvergence (Minneapolis), where he has been a Guest of Honor[12] on two occasions. On February 8, 2019, he was named as the Guest of Honour for the Canadian science fiction convention, Can*Con.[13]

Interviews in the media

Harris has been interviewed for various literary and genre publications on a number of occasions, including audio interviews with The Creative Writer's Toolbelt and The Archivos Round Table Podcast.[14][15] Life in Sci-Fi reported on a kaffeeklatsch Harris hosted at the British science fiction convention, EasterCon.[16] Tor.com interviewed him[17] and the author Seanan McGuire about the multi award-winning book Every Heart a Doorway. He was also interviewed by Ron Charles in the Washington Post], talking about the newly formed Tor.com Publishing imprint.[18]

Affiliations

He is a former Chair[19] of the British Fantasy Society, and has chaired two FantasyCon conventions for the society - the first in York in 2014, the second in Nottingham in 2015.

Written works

He has co-written several plays and short stories, including one story published in Snowbooks' Beside the Seaside anthology[20]

Plays

Awards

Harris has been nominated for a Hugo Award multiple times for his editing.[22] He is the first British editor of science fiction, fantasy or horror ever to have been nominated for these awards.[23]

References
  1. "The Dreaming Theatre Company". Mandy Actors UK. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  2. "Discworld Monthly - Issue 76". Discworld Monthly. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  3. "Culture : Hub Magazine". Science Fiction Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  4. "Angry Robot Announces New Recruit". HCUK Corporate. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  5. "Lee Harris promoted at Angry Robot". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  6. "Angry Robot launches subscription service". The Bookseller. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  7. "Tor.com is Seeking a Fiction Editor, Marketing Manager, and Publicity Manager". Tor.com. 2014-05-28. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  8. "Announcing the Appointment of Lee Harris as the Tor.com Imprint Senior Editor". Tor.com. 2014-06-26. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  9. "SPOTLIGHT: Tor.com on new novellas". Pan Macmillan. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  10. McGuire, Seanan (2019-01-24). "But you know who I have yet to see on that stage? @LeeAHarris, who edits Wayward Children, Murderbot, the Binti novellas, Sin du Jour, and so much more. He's eligible this year in Best Editor, Short Form. And he's amazing". @seananmcguire. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  11. "My 2020 – Lee Harris". Retrieved 2021-07-15.
  12. "Meet the CONvergence 2015 Guests of Honor!". CONvergence Convention. 2015-02-25. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  13. Cultrera, Marco. "Editor Guest of Honor: Lee Harris". CAN-CON 2019. Retrieved 2019-02-08.
  14. "Episode 35 - Interview with Lee Harris Senior Editor at Tor.com". Spotify. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  15. "20 Minutes with Lee Harris". ARCHIVOS Podcast Network. 18 May 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  16. "Lee Harris: how to edit at Tor.com". Life in Sci-Fi. 24 April 2017. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  17. Pantozzi, Jill (17 March 2016). "After "Ever After" — An Interview with Seanan McGuire and Lee Harris". Tor.com. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  18. "Novellas that go to infinity and beyond". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2023-05-03.
  19. "BFS Committee Positions Filled". Locus Online. 2011-11-23. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  20. "Beside the Seaside". Snowbooks. Retrieved 2019-04-15. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  21. "Terry Pratchett's Comedy "Eric" In York NOW!". Funny.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  22. "Lee Harris". Science fiction awards database. 2019-04-04.
  23. "York books editor up for award". York Press. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  24. "2014 Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards. 2014-04-18. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  25. "2018 Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards. 2018-03-15. Retrieved 2019-01-25.
  26. "2019 Hugo Award & 1944 Retro Hugo Award Finalists". Tor.com. 2019-04-02. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  27. "Hugo Results Breakdown 2019" (PDF). The Hugo Awards official website.
  28. https://www.leeharris.xyz/awards/
  29. "2023 Hugo Awards". The Hugo Awards. 2023-07-06. Retrieved 2023-08-18.
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