Cixin Liu

Cixin Liu is a Chinese science-fiction writer and former power-plant engineer. Writing in Chinese, he became internationally known through the English translation of The Three-Body Problem, published by Tor and translated by Ken Liu. His engineering background is reflected in fiction that gives scientific concepts a central dramatic role.

Liu writes on an unusually large scale. Civilizations rise and falter; physical laws become instruments of conflict; decisions made by one person can shape humanity centuries later. Yet his stories often begin with a precise mystery. In The Three-Body Problem, nanotechnology researcher Wang Miao investigates scientists’ deaths, encounters a virtual world governed by three unpredictable suns and uncovers the consequences of a signal sent during China’s Cultural Revolution.

The novel opens Remembrance of Earth’s Past, followed by The Dark Forest and Death’s End. Liu has also written Ball Lightning, The Supernova Era and the stories collected in The Wandering Earth. The Three-Body Problem won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel. Liu’s trilogy later inspired Netflix’s 3 Body Problem, while the title story of The Wandering Earth was adapted for film.

Start with The Three-Body Problem. It is the natural entry point to Liu’s major trilogy and introduces his characteristic movement from historical trauma and scientific puzzle to questions of survival on a cosmic scale.