People like Ada Palmer

Ada Palmer is an American historian and writer and winner of the 2017 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Her first novel Too Like the Lightning was published in May 2016. The work has been well received by critics and was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Novel.

The daughter of computer engineer Douglas Palmer and artist Laura Higgins Palmer, Ada grew up in Annapolis, Maryland. Following her undergraduate education at Bryn Mawr College, Ada Palmer obtained a doctorate at Harvard University.

Following a stint at Texas A&M University, Palmer began teaching at the University of Chicago.

As a scholar, Palmer researches and teaches about the Renaissance period. She teaches a class on the Italian Renaissance wherein students enact the 1492 papal election, complete with secret meetings, betrayals, and a final vote conducted in full costume. In an interview, Palmer discussed her experience with the class, suggesting that students have a lot of favorable biases about this period despite its darker underside.