Malka Older

Malka Ann Older is an American author, academic, and humanitarian aid worker. She was named the 2015 Senior Fellow for Technology and Risk at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, and has more than eight years' experience in humanitarian aid and development.

Her first novel, Infomocracy (2016), is the first in the series The Centenal Cycle, which also included Null States (2017) and State Tectonics (2018), which won a Prometheus Award in 2019.

Education
Older holds an undergraduate degree in literature from Harvard University, a master's degree in international relations and economics from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University, and a doctoral degree from the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po). Her doctoral work explored the dynamics of multi-level governance and disaster response using the cases of Hurricane Katrina and the 2011 Tōhoku tsunami in Japan.

Career
Older is currently a Faculty Associate at Arizona State University's School for the Future of Innovation in Society. She has more than a decade of experience in humanitarian aid and development, ranging from field level experience as a Head of Office in Darfur to supporting global programs and agency-wide strategy as a disaster risk reduction technical specialist. In between, she has designed and implemented economic development initiatives in post-disaster context, supervised a large and diverse portfolio as Director of Programs in Indonesia, and responded to complex emergencies and natural disasters in Sri Lanka, Uganda, Darfur, Indonesia, Japan, and Mali, in the last three as Team Leader.

Awards and recognition

 * Named one of Kirkus Reviews's "Best Fiction of 2016"
 * One of The Washington Post's "Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2016"
 * 2017: Finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
 * 2019: Prometheus Award
 * 2024: The Mimicking of Known Successes was nominated for a 2024 Hugo Award for Best Novella.