Bio
Allison King is an Asian American writer and software engineer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In technology, her work has ranged from semiconductors to data privacy to public transportation. Her short stories have appeared in Fantasy Magazine, Diabolical Plots, and LeVar Burton Reads, among others. She is the author of The Phoenix Pencil Company, a 2025 Reese's Book Club pick, and also of Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, a novelization of the animated movie. When she is not writing novels, she is writing code for the MBTA 🚂
Short bio
Allison King is an Asian American writer and software engineer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is the author of The Phoenix Pencil Company, a 2025 Reese's Book Club pick, and also of Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, a novelization of the animated movie.
Book covers
The Phoenix Pencil Company hardcover
The Phoenix Pencil Company paperback
Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender
Select reviews
The Phoenix Pencil Company
Remarkable... Part speculative, part multigenerational family epic, part historical record, part coming-of-age romance, it is, like the mythical titular phoenix, all magic... King radiantly explores memory, storytelling, archiving, history, and the subjective unreliability of all that we think we know.
—Booklist (starred review)An absorbing family saga interwoven with reflections on the power of stories, and who has the right to decide what is preserved or permitted to remain secret.
—The GuardianA heartfelt, powerful blend of magical realism, historical fiction, and generational epic... Sure to be an instant book-club hit, this timely, spellbinding novel is a resonant and tender story of the power of perseverance and the ability of the written word to fuel that power.
—Book ReporterExceptional... A real genre-bender, blending WWII-era historical fiction, grounded fantasy, family drama, and queer romance, all with compelling characters and an original and propulsive plot. Readers may also be drawn to the sweet grandmother/granddaughter relationship, close look at Chinese history, and thoughtful exploration of qustions concerning data, privacy, and who owns our stories.
—Modern Mrs. Darcy