M. J. Engh (26 January 1933 – 11 July 2024), also writing as Jane Beauclerk and Mary Jane Engh, was a librarian, scholar, teacher, editor and writer. She wrote short fiction, non-fiction, and speculative novels, including 1976’s Arslan, later released as A Wind from Bukhara. Engh was honored by SFWA in 2009 with the title of Author Emeritus.

Engh wrote four speculative fiction books, from 1976’s Arslan to 1993’s Rainbow Man. Arslan achieved its success as a primarily underground work, one that dealt directly with the methods of dictators and warlords, including the use of morality and charisma. Engh believed sci-fi writers had a responsibility not to make violence and destruction less horrific, and used the reactions to her novel to note the disconnect of those same readers when dealing with equivalent real-world harm. She also wrote to all-ages audiences, in particular with her work The House in the Snow, illustrated by Leslie W. Bowman. She believed in speaking plainly to children, who she found able to deal with reality and better able to process new ideas than adults.

An independent scholar of Roman history with great interest in the impacts of religion, relationships, and societies, she also wrote three non-fiction books, including Femina Habilis: A Biographical Dictionary of Active Women in the Ancient Roman World from Earliest Times to 527 CE, co-authored with Kathryn E. Meyer. Engh’s works, whether fiction or non-fiction, were written to deal with the question of how people can do horrible things to each other. Her writing approached these topics directly, and with a mind to consequence. As a lifelong scholar of history, she sought that we should all learn from its warnings and examples.

M. J. Engh lived 91 years.