Kessel won a Nebula Award in 1982 for his novella "Another Orphan,"
2009 Shirley Jackson Award
longest gap between competitive awards in Nebula history
"Stories for Men" shared the 2002 James Tiptree, Jr. Award for science fiction dealing with gender issues with M. John Harrison's novel Light
nominated three times for a World Fantasy Award: 1993 for the Meeting in Infinity collection, 1999 for the short fiction "Every Angel is Terrifying," and 2009 for the short story "Pride and Prometheus."[
2004 essay on Orson Scott Card's novel Ender's Game, "Creating the Innocent Killer: Ender's Game, Intention, and Morality."
The Secret History of Science Fiction
Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology
Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology
studied under science fiction writer and scholar James Gunn
helped organize the MFA Creative Writing program at NCSU and served as its first director
In 2007, his story "A Clean Escape" (previously adapted by Kessel as a one-act play in 1986) was adapted by Sam Egan for ABC's science fiction anthology series Masters of Science Fiction.
In 1994, his play Faustfeathers received the Paul Green Playwrights' Prize
1985 Freedom Beach (with James Patrick Kelly)
1989 Good News From Outer Space (Nebula Award Nominee)
1997 Corrupting Dr. Nice
1989 Another Orphan
1986 A Clean Escape
1994 Faustfeathers (Paul Green Playwrights' Prize Winner)
1992 Meeting in Infinity (World Fantasy Award Nominee)
1997 The Pure Product
2011 Kafkaesque (coedited with James Patrick Kelly)
1996 Intersections: The Sycamore Hill Anthology (with Mark L. Van Name and Richard Butner)
Ted Chiang
2006 Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology (with James Patrick Kelly)
Bruce Sterling
Jeff VanderMeer
2007 Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology (coedited with James Patrick Kelly)
2009 The Secret History of Science Fiction (coedited with James Patrick Kelly)
2008 The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories
1982 "Another Orphan" (September, Fantasy and Science Fiction) - Nebula Award Winner
1988 "Mrs. Shummel Exits a Winner" (June, Asimov's SF) - Nebula Award Nominee
1991 "Buffalo" (January, Fantasy and Science Fiction) - Sturgeon Award Winner, Locus Award Winner, Hugo Award Nominee, Nebula Award Nominee
1993 "The Franchise" (August, Asimov's SF) - Nebula Award nominee, Hugo Award nominee, novelette
1996 "The Miracle of Ivar Avenue" (from Intersections) - Nebula Award nominee, novelette
1998 "Every Angel is Terrifying" (October–November, Fantasy and Science Fiction) - World Fantasy Award nominee
1999 "Ninety Percent of Everything" with Jonathan Lethem and James Patrick Kelly (September, Fantasy and Science Fiction) - Nebula Award nominee, novella
2002 "Stories for Men" (October–November, Asimov's SF) - James Tiptree, Jr. Award Winner, Nebula Award Nominee
2008 "Pride and Prometheus" (January Fantasy and Science Fiction) - Nebula Award winner, Shirley Jackson Award winner, Hugo Award nominee, novelette; World Fantasy Award nominee, short story
1996 Intersections (with Mark L. Van Name and Richard Butner)
1998 Memory's Tailor (by Laurence Rudner. Kessel was the literary executor after Rudner's death in 1995.)
2006 Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology (with James Patrick Kelly)
2007 Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology (coedited with James Patrick Kelly)
2009 The Secret History of Science Fiction (coedited with James Patrick Kelly)
2011 Kafkaesque (coedited with James Patrick Kelly)