Otherwise Award Honor List World Fantasy Award Finalist Nebula Award Finalist Ignyte Award Finalist Two transgender elders must learn to weave from Death in order to defeat an evil ruler--in the debut full-length work set in R. B. Lemberg's award-winning queer fantasy Birdverse universe "The Four Profound Weaves is the anti-authoritarian, queer-mystical fairy tale we need right now." --Annalee Newitz, author of The Future of Another Timeline "A beautiful, heartfelt story of change, family, identity, and courage." --Library Journal, starred review The Surun' nomads do not speak of the master weaver, Benesret, who creates the cloth of bone for assassins in the Great Burri Desert. But aged Uiziya must find her aunt in order to learn the final weave, although the price for knowledge may be far too dear to pay. Among the Khana in the springflower city of Iyar, women travel in caravans to trade, while men remain in the inner quarter, as scholars. A nameless man struggles to embody Khana masculinity, after many years of performing the life of a woman, trader, wife, and grandmother. As his past catches up, the nameless man must choose between the life he dreamed of and Uiziya--while Uiziya must discover how to challenge the evil Ruler of Iyar, and to weave from deaths that matter. In this breathtaking debut set in R. B. Lemberg's beloved Birdverse, The Four Profound Weaves offers a timeless chronicle of claiming one's identity in a hostile world. About the Birdverse: The Birdverse is the creation of fantasy author R. B. Lemberg. It is a complex, culturally diverse world, with a range of LGBTQIA characters and different family configurations. Named after its deity, Bird, Birdverse shorter works have been nominated the Nebula, Hugo, Tiptree award, and Rhysling awards. The Four Profound Weaves is the first full-length work set in the Birdverse.

The Four Profound Weaves

Literature & Fiction

Lemberg, R. B.

Genre Fiction

Tachyon Publications

Product Description In this first full-length novel from the acclaimed Birdverse, new love blossoms between an impatient starkeeper and a reclusive poet as they try together to save their island home. Nebula, Locus, and Ignyte finalist R. B. Lemberg (The Four Profound Weaves) has crafted a gorgeous tale of the inevitable transformations of communities and their worlds. The Unbalancing is rooted in the mystical cosmology, neurodiversity, and queerness that infuses Lemberg’s lyrical prose, which has invited glowing comparisons to N. K. Jemisin, Patricia A. McKillip, and Ursula K. Le Guin.[STARRED REVIEW] “Lovingly crafted with a deep and rewarding world full of complex characters who are often LGBTQIA+ and/or neurodiverse, this is an outstanding novel from a rising star in fantasy fiction.”―BooklistBeneath the waters by the islands of Gelle-Geu, a star sleeps restlessly. The celebrated new starkeeper Ranra Kekeri, who is preoccupied by the increasing tremors, confronts the problems left behind by her predecessor.Meanwhile, the poet Erígra Lilún, who merely wants to be left alone, is repeatedly asked by their ancestor Semberí to take over the starkeeping helm. Semberí insists upon telling Lilún mysterious tales of the deliverance of the stars by the goddess Bird.When Ranra and Lilún meet, sparks begin to fly. An unforeseen configuration of their magical deepnames illuminates the trouble under the tides. For Ranra and Lilún, their story is just beginning; for the people of Gelle-Geu, it may well be too late to save their home.About the Birdverse: The Birdverse is the creation of fantasy author R. B. Lemberg. It is a complex, culturally diverse world, with a range of LGBTQIA characters and different family configurations. Named after its deity, Bird, Birdverse shorter works have been nominated for the Nebula, Hugo, Tiptree award, and Rhysling awards. Review Autostraddle Queer and Feminist Books Coming Your Way in Fall 2022Lit Hub’s 8 Great SF & Fantasy Books for SeptemberBook Riot Notable Nonbinary Books You Should Check Out“The lush lyricism of the mythology, culture and history in The Unbalancing is illustrious and transportive. It’s an enchanting world of star lore, magic and gender identity.”―Tlotlo Tsamaase, The Silence of the Wilting Skin“In all their fiction from the fascinating Birdverse world, Lemberg centers marginalized identities: queer, trans, neurodiverse, elderly, and more The Unbalancing is Lemberg’s first novel-length book to take place in the Birdverse. It’s a poetic and magical Atlantis-esque novel and a perfect introduction to the Birdverse. .”―Buzzfeed[STARRED REVIEW] “This first full-length novel in Lemberg’s acclaimed Birdverse (The Four Profound Weaves, 2020) shines with the author’s signature lush, dreamlike prose and nuanced explorations of trans and queer identity. The islands of Gelle-Geu are disturbed by a star that sleeps fitfully beneath the waves, its nightmares rocking the land with earthquakes increasing in frequency and severity. New starkeeper Ranra is determined to do whatever it takes to learn what is wrong and fix it to save her home from destruction. Poet and gardener Erígra Lilún is descended from the first starkeeper, Semberí. Semberí insists that Erígra is the only one who can wake the star and end its devastating nightmares, but Erígra has no interest in being starkeeper. Ranra and Erígra are instantly drawn to one another and fall into a romantic relationship even as the danger to Gelle-Geu increases. Both Ranra and Erígra have challenging and gratifying personal growth arcs, approached with the same thoughtfulness and determination the characters bring to bear on the threat facing their community. Lovingly crafted with a deep and rewarding world full of complex characters who are often LGBTQIA+ and/or neurodiverse, this is an outstanding novel from a rising star in fantasy fiction.”―Booklist“Set in Lemberg’s Birdverse, this lyrical fantasy novel is a queer, nonbinary Atla

The Unbalancing: A Birdverse Novel

Yoke of Stars (Birdverse Books)

The Moment of Change is an anthology of feminist speculative poetry. The contributors include many fine poets, among them Ursula K. Le Guin, Delia Sherman, Theodora Goss, Amal El-Mohtar, Vandana Singh, Nisi Shawl, Greer Gilman, Sonya Taaffe, Athena Andreadis, Jo Walton, and Catherynne M. Valente. Editor Rose Lemberg writes in her introduction that ''Literature of the fantastic allows us to create worlds and visions of society, origins, social justice and identity, but notes that even though we are in the world, our voices are folded into the creases. We speak from memory of stories told sidewise. We speak from pain; is that serious enough? The world has not been welcoming, but what other world is there?'' ''In these pages,'' Lemberg summarizes, ''you will find works in a variety of genres--works that can be labeled mythic, fantastic, science fictional, historical, surreal, magic realist, and unclassifiable; poems by people of color and white folks; by poets based in the US, Canada, Britain, India, Spain, and the Philippines; by first- and second-generation immigrants; by the able-bodied and the disabled; by straight and queer poets who may identify as women, men, trans, and genderqueer.''

The Moment of change

Poetry

Aqueduct Press

As a tribute anthology, Climbing Lightly Through Forests gathers multiple conversations: the poets are responding to Ursula K. Le Guin, her work, or their own responses to her or her work; and as editors, Lemberg and Bradley put the poets in conversation with each other and with the readers. This anthology is enriched by the work of poets from all over the world: Greece, Uruguay, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Chile, the UK, Australia, and Canada, in addition to the United States.

Climbing Lightly Through Forests: A Poetry Anthology Honoring Ursula K. Le Guin

History & Criticism

R.B. Lemberg's poems are a manifesto of memories, unearthing worlds that are gone and poignantly present: their childhood in the Soviet Union, suspended between Ukraine and the permafrost of Siberia, among the traumatized, silent, persecuted members of their Jewish family; Lemberg's coming of age in Israel, being the other wherever they go, both internally and externally, in multiple identities, languages, genders; and the arrival in "the lost land" of their America, where they have put down "tentative roots." Every line in this stunning, lyrical memoir is chiseled with the poignant precision of ice into a coruscating cascade that engulfs us with the author's sensations of solitude, anger, grief; sometimes hurling like an avalanche, sometimes tenderly unfolding like constellations in a circumpolar sky - leaving open the possibility that with the disturbing truths covered for decades, the thawing permafrost from Lemberg's past might also lay bare layers of love.

Everything Thaws: A poetic cycle (The Jewish Poetry Project)

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Ben Yehuda Press

Nebula and Locus award finalist Lemberg returns us to the Birdverse with this powerful collection of poems and stories. "In the Birdverse, a magic loosely based in geometry is a source of craftsmanship, art, protection and healing. Multiple cultures and countries engage in trade relationships and political alliances. Cultures make use of magic according to their own traditions and rules, and worship the deity Bird, in whichever feathered from Bird takes. And within these countries and cultures, individuals hurt and are hurt, heal and are healed." - Bookslut

Geometries of Belonging

Short Stories & Anthologies

Fairwood Press LLC

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Books by Lemberg, R. B.