not to sound like a high school english teacher, but i actually think it’s really interesting looking into authors backgrounds and seeing how their past has influenced their storytelling, especially as a scifi/fantasy reader. like, it makes so much sense that leguin was an anthropologist and arkady martine has a doctorate in comparative history and seth dickinson did research on racial bias in policing. just look at what they made!!
the fact that ann leckie used to be a lunch lady may not seem relevant, but you have to remember the song about the thousand eggs
ann leckie’s main character sings about eating a thousand eggs because she misses being roughly the size of a barge