AJ Odasso


AJ Odasso is an American queer, intersex, nonbinary author and poet with a published career dating back to 2005. They are also a six-time nominee and one-time winner of the Hugo Award in the Semi-Prozine category in their capacity as Senior Poetry Editor for the speculative fiction magazine, Strange Horizons. An English Faculty member at San Juan College, Odasso holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from Boston University.

Writing career

Odasso began their published career in 2005 while an undergraduate at Wellesley College, since then producing poetry, nonfiction, and short stories for magazines and anthologies. Their poetry has been published in Sybil's Garage, Mythic Delirium, Midnight Echo, Not One of Us, Dreams & Nightmares, Strange Horizons, Liminality, Stone Telling, Farrago's Wainscot, Battersea Review, Barking Sycamores, Goblin Fruit and New England Review of Books. Solo collections include: Lost Books, published 2010, The Dishonesty of Dreams, published 2014, and The Sting of It, published 2019, originally shortlisted for the 2017 Sexton Prize as Things Being What They Are. They have also published a historical fiction novel, The Pursued and the Pursuing, a continuation of The Great Gatsby.
Odasso is also Senior Poetry Editor for Strange Horizons, a weekly speculative fiction and non-fiction magazine, where they have worked since 2012.

Personal life

Currently living in New Mexico, Odasso holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from Boston University. They are a full-time English Faculty member at San Juan College. They are intersex, identifying as pansexual and non-binary. They are also Jewish and on the autism spectrum.

Awards and recognition

Solo works

  • Lost Books: 2010 London New Poetry Award nominee; 2010/2011 The People's Book Prize winner, Fiction Category, Winter 2010
  • Things Being What They Are: 2017 Sexton Prize shortlist
  • The Sting of It: 2019 New Mexico/Arizona Book Award winner, Gay/Lesbian category
  • The Pursued and the Pursuing: 2021 Reads Rainbow Award, 2nd Place, Historical Fiction category

    Strange Horizons Senior Poetry Editor

  • Hugo Award Finalist, Semi-Prozine category, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022
  • Hugo Award Winner, Semi-Prozine category, 2024