C. J. Cherryh is a multiple award-winning author whose works cover science fiction and fantasy and points in between. Her first novel Gate of Ivrel garnered her the John W. Campbell Award for New Writer (renamed Astounding Award). She followed this with three Hugo Awards and a Locus Award.

Her ability to create believable alien cultures has won her the admiration and respect of both her peers and her fans. In 2016 she was honoured with the SFWA Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award.