Becky Chambers was born in 1985 (that makes her 34 in 2019). She grew up outside LA in California, with scientist parents, “My dad worked in aerospace engineering, and my mom is an astrobiology educator." She was the outcast not being a scientist in her family. Her family is bookish and her mother read to her, and bought her books for her birthday. She studied theater in SF and then managed a theater. She noticed those devoted to theater only did that, and she liked playing video games and watching science fiction. She met her wife Berglaug Asmundardottir in Iceland (I'm extrapolating). She worked as a bartender and then a freelance writer to pay the bills till her writing career took off. This quote: "Boredom is so important. I still use boredom in my day-to-day if I’m stuck on something. The worst thing I can do is go online and start goofing around on websites or chatting with my friends, because then nothing else gets done." She wrote short stories for ...