Lois McMaster Bujold (b. November 2, 1949) is a distinguished American writer known for her works in speculative fiction. She has achieved significant acclaim, winning the prestigious Hugo Award for Best Novel four times, a record matched only by Robert A. Heinlein (excluding his Retro Hugos). Her acclaimed novella, The Mountains of Mourning, won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards. In the realm of fantasy, her novel The Curse of Chalion won the Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature and was nominated for the 2002 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. She also secured her fourth Hugo Award and second Nebula Award for Paladin of Souls. In 2011, she received the Skylark Award. Furthermore, Bujold won two Hugo Awards for Best Series, in 2017 for the Vorkosigan Saga and in 2018 for the World of the Five Gods. Her outstanding contributions led the Science Fiction Writers of America to name her the 36th SFWA Grand Master in 2019.

The bulk of Bujold's works includes three main series: the Vorkosigan Saga, the World of the Five Gods, and the Sharing Knife series. She was born as Lois Joy McMaster, the daughter of an engineering professor at Ohio State University, where she developed an early interest in science fiction. Currently, she resides in Minneapolis and has two grown children. Her works have been translated into over twenty languages.