Lee Harris is a British editor of science fiction, fantasy and horror. He is the only British editor ever to have been nominated in the Hugo Awards "short form" editing category, and the first British editor ever to have been nominated in the editing "long form" category.
Biography
His early jobs included actor and bartender. He was also a director for The Dreaming Production Company from 2003-2005,. a professional theatre group that staged fantasy and horror-themed plays across the UK. He co-wrote and directed the first professional adaptation of a Terry Pratchett book, Eric, among others. Later he worked as a communications executive for CPP, an insurance company based in York. Immediately prior to working in a full-time publishing role, Harris was an analyst for iOn. He was jointly responsible for setting up a new financial system that allowed the company to accurately invoice several UK government departments for their outsourced printing and copying needs.
Publishing career
Hub Magazine
He was the publisher of Hub Magazine from 2007 until 2013. Hub Magazine was a short fiction magazine, which lasted for just two issues in print, before becoming a semi-weekly magazine. The magazine folded with issue 147. The were supported by advertising, and when the magazine moved to online-only, they were sponsored by Orbit, Solaris and Abaddon and finally by HarperCollins, where Harris worked as part of the editorial staff at Angry Robot Books.
Harris joined Angry Robot Books when they formed as part of HarperCollins UK in January 2009, during which time he discovered and published authors such as Wesley Chu, Adam Christopher, Cassandra Rose Clarke and Maurice Broaddus. He started as an Assistant Editor, and was gradually promoted until he reached the role of Senior Editor in 2013. He was instrumental in devising and implementing a new ebook subscription service in 2011. He left Angry Robot to head up the editorial division of Macmillan's newly-formed Tor.com Publishing imprint.
Tor.com Publishing
He joined the newly-created Tor.com Publishing in August 2014, specialising in publishing novellas, though he also edits and publishes full-length novels. His authors' books have won the Nebula and Hugo Awards every year since the imprint's inception, and he regularly edits such authors as Martha Wells, Seanan McGuire, Nnedi Okorafor and Paul Cornell. Seanan McGuire describes him as "Amazing... he makes me better. He forces me to be better. That's a rare and precious thing."
Harris has been interviewed for various literary and genre publications on a number of occasions, including audio interviews with The Creative Writer's Toolbelt and The Archivos Round Table Podcast. Life in Sci-Fi reported on a kaffeeklatsch Harris hosted at the British science fiction convention, EasterCon. Tor.com interviewed him and the author Seanan McGuire about the multi award-winning book Every Heart a Doorway. He was also interviewed by Ron Charles in the Washington Post], talking about the newly-formed Tor.com Publishing imprint.
Personal life
Affiliations
He is a former Chair of the British Fantasy Society, and has chaired two FantasyCon conventions for the society - the first in York in 2014, the second in Nottingham in 2015. He is currently serving on the society's Executive Committee as treasurer. He is also a regular presenter of the British Fantasy Awards.
Written works
He has co-written several plays and short stories, including one story published in Snowbooks' Beside the Seaside anthology
Plays
Eric- co-written with Scott Harrison, based on the book by Terry Pratchett
The Antipope - co-written with Scott Harrison, based on the book by Robert Rankin
Dracula -. Mostly written by Scott Harrison, based on the book by Bram Stoker.
Awards
Harris has been nominated for a Hugo Award multiple times for his editing. He is the first British editor of science fiction, fantasy or horror ever to have been nominated for these awards.
In 2014 he was nominated for the Hugo for Best Editor.
In 2018 he was nominated for the Hugo for Best Editor.
In 2019 he was nominated for the Hugo for Best Editor having received the joint highest number of nominations at the nomination stage.
