Jeff VanderMeer Biography

Jeff VanderMeer had been writing, editing and critiquing fantasy and science fiction for nearly 30 years before his novel Annihilation and its sequels became critical and popular hits.

The movie version of Annihilation (2017) starred Natalie Portman and Jennifer Jason Leigh and was directed by author/filmmaker Alex Garland.

VanderMeer spent much of his childhood in Fiji and studied writing at the University of Florida. He began writing when he was a teenager, submitting short fiction to science fiction and fantasy magazines.

His 2001 collection, City of Saints and Madmen, brought him notice among critics and other writers, with comparisons to fantasy author China Mieville for his depiction of the metropolis of Ambergris, the setting for his subsequent novels, Shriek: An Afterword (2006) and Finch (2009).

Finch was a finalist for the Nebula Award.

In 2014, the Southern Reach Trilogy was released, one after the other: Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance. 

A frequent nominee for fantasy and sci-fi awards, VanderMeer’s imaginative handling of ecological matters has earned him the nickname “Thoreau of the Weird.”

His work includes the novel Borne (2017), the novella The Strange Bird: A Borne Story (2017), the anthology Leviathan, Volume Three (winner of the 2003 World Fantasy Award) and the anthology The New Weird (co-edited with his wife, Ann VanderMeer).