Jia Liyuan, born in 1983 in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, China, received his Ph.D. in Literature from Tsinghua University, and served as a postdoctoral research fellow at Beijing Normal University. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Tsinghua University. He has been published academically in journals such as Science Fiction Studies, Literary Review, and Chinese Literature Today. He also pursues his interest in writing science fiction under the penname Fei Dao. He is the author of short story collections Innocence and Its Fabrications (Chunzhen ji qi suo suzao de), The Storytelling Robot (Jiang gushi de jiqiren), Chinese Scifi Blockbusters (Zhongguo kehuan dapian), and The Long Journey to Death (Qusi de manman lütu). Works translated into English include “The Robot Who Liked to Tell Tall Tales,” “The Story-telling Robot,” “A Story of the End of the World,” and “The Demon’s Head.”

Ken Liu is an American author of speculative fiction. A winner of the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy awards, he wrote the Dandelion Dynasty, a silkpunk epic fantasy series (starting with The Grace of Kings), as well as short story collections The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories and The Hidden Girl and Other Stories. He also penned the Star Wars novel The Legends of Luke Skywalker.

Prior to becoming a full-time writer, Liu worked as a software engineer, corporate lawyer, and litigation consultant. Liu frequently speaks at conferences and universities on a variety of topics, including futurism, cryptocurrency, history of technology, bookmaking, narrative futures, and the mathematics of origami.