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Nicola Griffith

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Nicola Griffith
Nicola Griffith (2014)
Nicola Griffith (2014)
Born (1960-09-30) 30 September 1960 (age 64)
Yorkshire, England
Occupation
  • Novelist
  • short story author
  • essayist
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom and United States
Period1987–present
GenreFiction
Website
nicolagriffith.com

Nicola Griffith (/ˈnɪkələ ˈɡrɪfɪθ/; born 30 September 1960) is a British American novelist, essayist, and teacher.[1] She has won the Washington State Book Award (twice), Nebula Award, James Tiptree, Jr. Award, World Fantasy Award, Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and six Lambda Literary Awards. In 2024 she was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.[2]

Personal life

[edit]

Griffith was born 30 September 1960 in Leeds, to Margaret and Eric Griffith.[3] Griffith's family is Catholic and she is one of five children. She knew she was gay by age 13.[4]

Griffith is cousin to British actor Clare Higgins.[5]

Griffith's earliest surviving literary efforts include an illustrated booklet she was encouraged to create to prevent her from making trouble among her fellow nursery school students.[3]: 17  At age eleven she won a BBC student poetry prize and read aloud her winning work for radio broadcast.

Her early reading included the works of such novelists as Henry Treece[6] and Rosemary Sutcliff;[7][8] fantastic fiction including the works of E. E. Smith, Frank Herbert, and J. R. R. Tolkien; nonfiction and history — Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was a particular favorite.[6]

Griffith took interest in the sciences as a teenager. She entered University of Leeds to study microbiology but did not complete a degree.[4] Griffith was the lead singer and cofounder of the band Janes Plane, which experienced some success in England before breaking up.[4]

By the late 1980s, Griffith had begun experiencing symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS), though her illness remained undiagnosed. She was diagnosed with MS in March 1993.[8]

While studying at Michigan State University, Griffith met and fell in love with fellow writer Kelley Eskridge.[8] On 4 September 1993, Griffith and Eskridge announced their commitment ceremony in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,[9] perhaps the first same-sex commitment announcement the paper had published. Griffith and Eskridge were legally married 4 September 2013.

Griffith wanted citizenship so she could remain in the country with her wife, but because she was a lesbian, she couldn't receive citizenship through marriage, and all other pathways were closed.[10] After much effort, Griffith received permission to live and work in the United States based on her "importance as a writer of lesbian/science fiction," making her the first out lesbian to receive a National Interest Waiver.[8] Her immigration resulted in a new law, and she is now a dual US/UK citizen.[11]

Career

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In late 1987 Griffith made her first professional fiction sale: "Mirrors and Burnstone" to Interzone. Her debut novel, Ammonite, received several offers from publishers, including St. Martin's Press, Avon Press, and Del Rey Books.[8] Griffith has since published nine full-length novels, a memoir, and numerous short stories, essays, and novellas. While Griffith has said that she "resists labels to describer her work," much of her published material contains themes of gender and sexuality.[12]

In 2015, Griffith "founded the Literary Prize Data working group whose purpose initially was to assemble data on literary prizes in order to get a picture of how gender bias operates within the trade publishing ecosystem."[13]

In 2015 she began #CripLit, an online community for disabled writers."[13]

In 2017, after completing her thesis, entitled "Norming the Queer: Narrative Empathy via Focalized Heterotopia," Griffith received her PhD by publication from the University of East Anglia.[11][14]

Awards and honors

[edit]
Year Title Award Category Result Ref.
1993 Ammonite BSFA Award — Shortlisted [15]
James Tiptree, Jr. Award — Won [16][17]
Lambda Literary Award Lesbian Science Fiction/Fantasy Won [18]
Touching Fire James Tiptree, Jr. Award — Longlisted [19]
1994 Ammonite Arthur C. Clarke Award — Shortlisted [20]
Locus Award First Novel Shortlisted [21]
1995 "Yaguara" Nebula Award Novella Nominated [22]
1996 Slow River Nebula Award Novel Won [23]
Lambda Literary Award Science Fiction/Fantasy Finalist [24]
1998 Bending the Landscape Lambda Literary Award Science Fiction/Fantasy Won [25]
1999 The Blue Place Gaylactic Spectrum Awards Novel Nominated [26]
Lambda Literary Award Lesbian Mystery Won [27]
Bending the Landscape: Science Fiction Gaylactic Spectrum Awards Other Work Won [28]
Lambda Literary Award Science Fiction/Fantasy Won [27]
2000 Slow River Gaylactic Spectrum Awards Hall of Fame Won [29]
2002 Bending the Landscape: Horror Gaylactic Spectrum Awards Other Work Won [30]
Lambda Literary Award Anthology Finalist [31]
Lambda Literary Award Science Fiction/Fantasy Finalist [31]
2003 Stay Lambda Literary Award Lesbian Fiction Finalist [32]
2005 With Her Body Gaylactic Spectrum Awards Other Work Finalist [33]
Lambda Literary Award Science Fiction/Fantasy Finalist [34]
2008 And Now We Are Going to Have a Party Lambda Literary Award Lesbian Memoir or Biography Won [35][36]
2010 "It Takes Two" Hugo Award Novelette Finalist [37]
2013 Hild Bisexual Book Awards Fiction Shortlisted [38]
James Tiptree, Jr. Award — Honor [39][40]
Nebula Award Novel Finalist [41]
2014 John W. Campbell Memorial Award — Shortlisted [42]
Washington State Book Award Fiction Won [43]
2018 So Lucky Over the Rainbow Booklist — Top 10 [44]
2019 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award — Shortlisted [45]
Tournament of Books — Shortlisted [46]
Washington State Book Award Fiction Won [47]
2022 Spear Los Angeles Times Book Prize Ray Bradbury Prize Won [48]
Nebula Award Novel Finalist [49]
2023 HWA Crown Awards Gold Longlisted [citation needed]
Locus Award Fantasy Novel Nominated [50]
Ursula K. Le Guin Prize — Shortlisted [51]
World Fantasy Award Novel Shortlisted [52]

Publications

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Fiction

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  • —— (1992). Ammonite. Del Rey. ISBN 9780345452382.
  • —— (1995). Slow River. Ballantine Books. ISBN 9780345395375.
  • —— (2018). So Lucky. MCD x FSG Originals. ISBN 9780374265922.
  • —— (2022). Spear. Tordotcom. ISBN 9781250819321.

Aud Torvingen series

[edit]

The Hild Sequence series

[edit]

Nonfiction

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  • —— (2007). And Now We Are Going to Have a Party: Liner Notes to a Writer's Early Life. Payseur & Schmidt. ISBN 9780978911416.

Anthologies

[edit]

Collections

[edit]

Short fiction

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  • "An Other Winter's Tale" (1987)
  • "Mirrors and Burnstone" (1988)
  • "The Other" (1989)
  • "We Have Met the Alien" (1990)
  • "The Voyage South" (1990)
  • "Down the Path of the Sun" (1990)
  • "Song of Bullfrogs, Cry of Geese" (1991)
  • "Wearing My Skin" (1991)
  • "Touching Fire" (1993)
  • "Yaguara" (1994)
  • "A Troll Story" (2000)
  • "It Takes Two" (2009)

Critical studies and reviews of Griffith's work

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References

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  1. ^ Griffith, Nicola (27 February 2013). "I am now an American citizen". Nicola Griffith. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  2. ^ [1]. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
  3. ^ a b Griffith, Nicola (2007). And Now We Are Going to Have a Party, Volume 1: Limb of Satan. Seattle: Payseur & Schmidt. ISBN 0-9789114-1-5
  4. ^ a b c "Griffith, Nicola". ProQuest Biographies. 2023. ProQuest 2880856497 – via ProQuest.
  5. ^ Griffith, Nicola. "My Mother". Nicola Griffith. Nicola Griffith. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
  6. ^ a b "If you like the Aud books you might like …,", "Ask Nicola". Retrieved 10 March 2014
  7. ^ "The Makers of Britain" by Nicola Griffith. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  8. ^ a b c d e van de Kruisweg, Ruud (1994). "Interview from HOLLAND SF". Nicola Griffith. Archived from the original on 15 May 2008. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  9. ^ "Commitment - Griffith-Eskridge". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 19 September 1993. p. L3.
  10. ^ Griffith, Nicola (13 October 2008). "Virgin birth (yes, really)". Nicola Griffith. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  11. ^ a b "Nicola Griffith". Angela Ruskin University. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  12. ^ Booker, M. K.; Thomas, Anne-Marie (2009). "Nicola Griffith (1960-)". The science fiction handbook. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. pp. 151–152. ISBN 9781405162050.
  13. ^ a b "About". Nicola Griffith. 24 February 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  14. ^ Griffith, Nicola (4 July 2017). "The story of my PhD, Part 1: Opportunity". Nicola Griffith. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  15. ^ "1993 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  16. ^ Lothian, Alexis (1 January 2020). "Jeanne Gomoll Retires from Motherboard « Otherwise Award". Otherwise Award. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  17. ^ Notkin, Debbie (13 April 2017). "1993 Otherwise Award « Otherwise Award". Otherwise Award. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  18. ^ "5th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. 14 July 1993. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  19. ^ Notkin, Debbie (12 March 2010). "1993 Long List « Otherwise Award". Otherwise Award. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  20. ^ "Arthur C. Clarke Award 1994". science fiction awards database. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  21. ^ "Locus Awards 1994". science fiction awards database. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  22. ^ "1995 Nebula Awards®". Nebula Awards. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  23. ^ "1996 Nebula Awards®". Nebula Awards. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  24. ^ Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (15 July 1996). "8th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  25. ^ Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (15 July 1998). "10th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  26. ^ "1999 Awards". Gaylactic Spectrum Awards. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  27. ^ a b Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (15 July 1999). "11th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  28. ^ "1999 Awards". Gaylactic Spectrum Awards. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  29. ^ "2000 Awards". Gaylactic Spectrum Awards. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  30. ^ "2002 Awards". Gaylactic Spectrum Awards. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  31. ^ a b Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (10 July 2002). "14th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  32. ^ Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (10 July 2003). "15th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  33. ^ "2005 Awards". Gaylactic Spectrum Awards. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  34. ^ Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (9 July 2005). "17th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  35. ^ Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (30 April 2007). "20th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  36. ^ "2008 Lambda Award Winners Announced". McNally Robinson Booksellers. 5 June 2008. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  37. ^ "2010 Hugo Awards Winners". Locus Online. 5 September 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  38. ^ "2013 Bisexual Book Awards Winners". Locus Online. 4 June 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  39. ^ Notkin, Debbie (31 October 2014). "The 2013 Tiptree Award winner has been selected! « Otherwise Award". Otherwise Award. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  40. ^ Notkin, Debbie (31 October 2014). "2013 Honor List « Otherwise Award". Otherwise Award. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  41. ^ "2013 Nebula Awards®". Nebula Awards. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  42. ^ "2013 John W. Campbell Memorial Award Finalists". Locus Online. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  43. ^ "Griffith Wins Washington State Book Award". Locus Online. 13 October 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  44. ^ Jarnagin, Briana (30 January 2019). "2019 Over the Rainbow List released, over 100 fiction and non-fiction titles". News and Press Center. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  45. ^ "2019 Shortlist". Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  46. ^ "2019 Tournament of Books Shortlist". Locus Online. 14 December 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  47. ^ "2019 Washington State Book Award winners include Ijeoma Oluo, Nicola Griffith". The Seattle Times. 12 October 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  48. ^ X (22 February 2023). "Rachel Howzell Hall, George Saunders, James Hannaham among L.A. Times Book Prize finalists". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  49. ^ Fictions, © 2024 Science; SFWA®, Fantasy Writers Association; Fiction, Nebula Awards® are registered trademarks of Science; America, Fantasy Writers of; SFWA, Inc Opinions expressed on this web site are not necessarily those of. "2022". The Nebula Awards®. Retrieved 10 February 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  50. ^ locusmag (25 June 2023). "2023 Locus Awards Winners". Locus Online. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  51. ^ "The 2023 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction". The Ursula K. Le Guin Literary Trust. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  52. ^ "World Fantasy Awards℠ 2023 | World Fantasy Convention". Retrieved 10 February 2025.
  53. ^ "Cold Wind". 16 April 2014.
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