About
Ian Li is a Chinese-Canadian writer and poet who started writing in late 2023 after a lifetime of believing he could never be creative. Find his writing in Nightmare Magazine, Strange Horizons, Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction, and many other venues.
He graduated summa cum laude from Columbia University. He’s led project teams as an economist and consultant, and has extensive expertise in antitrust, market microstructure, valuation, and large-scale data analysis.
He also enjoys developing games, building websites, and solving brain teasers.
Select Poetry
Light of My Life
- originally published in Astrolabe, December 2024; nominated for Best Microfiction 2025
- reprinted in Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction
- forthcoming in Poems in Passage (to be featured on the Toronto subway system)
Old Brooklyn Magic, Nightmare Magazine
Visions of Manhattan, Eye to the Telescope
- 2025 Rhysling Award finalist
The Sail, Orion’s Belt
not tied down, Strange Horizons
Flighty, Kaleidotrope
- featured in Charles Payseur’s review in Locus, July 2025
Rocket Feet, Bywords
- 2025 John Newlove Poetry Award, Honourable Mention
Select Short Stories
The Memory Technician, Small Wonders
- featured in Charles Payseur’s review in Locus, June 2025
- featured in Myna Chang’s Flash Roundup, March 2025
On Fields of Purple Grass, Augur ($)
The Drowned, Apex Microfiction Contest, 1st place
Have You Eaten Yet?, Worlds of Possibility ($)
- featured in Alex Brown’s Must Read Short Speculative Fiction: February 2025
If I Have Defects, Am I Defective?, Short Édition
When the Sky Tumbled Down, Vast Chasm
Other Projects
Brain Easer
Curated collection of 200+ interesting and challenging puzzles, with detailed explanations of how I solved them.
Eltera
Web development, design, and digital marketing services.
Contact
Follow me on Instagram and Bluesky:
Or drop me an email using this form: