Welcome to my renewed literary musing feature! I have decided
to post it on Mondays now!
In each weekly post, I explore
my thoughts on several
book-related topics.
This Week's Topic
Are gender and fiction/nonfiction genres always connected?
(The answer, of course, is "No.")
This is Part 3 of a topic I started
on May 21st. You can view that post
After some delay, I have finally caught up with this series of posts. Real-life work has been the culprit here, so I apologize to my readers for this....
In my second post, I included a list of classic female science fiction authors. In today's post, I am presenting another list -- of more recent, and equally renowned female SF writers! (Some of them write fantasy, as well.)
The first writer on this list really belongs on the list in my second post, as she is very well-known, even among non-SF readers.
Margaret Atwood: Throughout her writing career, Atwood has received numerous awards and honorary degrees. She is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, children's literature, fiction, and nonfiction, and is perhaps best known for her novels, which include The Edible Woman (1970), The Handmaid's Tale (1983), The Robber Bride (1994), Alias Grace (1996), and The Blind Assassin (2000), which won the prestigious Booker Prize in the same year it was published. Atwood's dystopian novel, Oryx and Crake, was published in 2003. The Tent (mini-fictions) and Moral Disorder (short stories) both appeared in 2006. Her most recent volume of poetry, The Door, was published in 2007. (Source: Goodreads)
Lisa Goldstein: This author
Pat Murphy: She is a science writer as well as author of fantasy and science fiction novels. Her second novel, The Falling Woman (1986), won the Nebula Award for that year. She also won another Nebula in the same year, for her novelette, "Rachel In Love". Points of Departure (1990), a collection of short stories, won the Philip K. Dick Award. Bones, her 1990 novella, won the World Fantasy Award in 1991. Murphy co-founded the James Tiptree, Jr. Award with Karen Joy Fowler in 1991. (Source: Wikipedia)
Kameron Hurley:
Nnedi Okorafor: This writer's full name is Nnedimma Nkemdili Okorafor, and she is a Nigerian-American writer of fantasy and science fiction. Her work is for both children and adults. In 2001, she won the Hurston-Wright Literary Award for her story, "Amphibious Green". Her short stories have been published in several anthologies and magazines, such as Dark Matter and Reading the Bones. Her acclaimed novel, The Shadow Speaker (2007), won the Carl Brandon Parallax Award, as well as the Andre Norton Award, among others. Another acclaimed novel, Zarah the Windseeker (2005), won the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa. Okorafor's first adult novel, Who Fears Death (2010), won the 2011 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, was a 2011 Tiptree Honor Book, and was nominated for the 2010 Nebula Award. (Source: Wikipedia)
N. K. Jemisin: Also known as Nora K. Jemisin, she is an African-American writer who lives and works in New York City. Her 2010 short story, "Non-Zero Probabilities", was a finalist for the Hugo and Nebula Best Short Story Awards. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (2010), her debut novel, immediately caused a stir; in 2010, it was nominated for the Nebula Award, and was shortlisted for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award; in 2011, it received nominations for the Hugo Award, the World Fantasy Award, and the Locus Award. It won the Locus Award for Best First Novel. She has also won awards for her novels The Fifth Season (2015), which garnered the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2016, and The Obelisk Gate (2016) , which won the Hugo Award in the same category, in 2017. In 2016, Kristian Wilson, writing in Bustle, called Jemisin "the sci-fi writer every woman needs to be reading." (Source: Wikipedia)
C.J. Cherryh: This American writer's actual name is Caroline Janice Cherry. which leads me to believe that she, too, chose to obscure her female identity in order to have her SF novels readily accepted in a male-dominated literary field. This suspicion was confirmed when I read the Wikipedia article about her life and writings. Her career began in the 1970s, and she has published more than 80 books since then, which have been translated into many languages, such as Czech, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and many others. She won the Hugo for Downbelow Station (1981) as well as Cyteen (1988). Cherryh is known for her very detailed, realistic world-building, which has been compared to that of Tolkien, as well as her exploration of gender roles. (Source: Wikipedia)
Of course, there are many more names to mention, so stay tuned for further posts on this topic!
Online Links
Margaret Atwood
Lisa Goldstein
Pat Murphy
Kameron Hurley
Nnedi Okorafor
N.K. Jemisin
C.J. Cherryh
What are your thoughts on
this topic?
Please leave me a comment
and let me know!
this topic?
Please leave me a comment
and let me know!
This is a great list Maria. I have only read Magerat Atwood and C.J. Cherryh from it. I think that both are well worth reading. The descriptions of the other women on the list sound so appealing. I am trying to read more science fiction lately so maybe I will give some of them s try. I Googled N. K. Jemisin and her work and life sounds particularly interesting so maybe I will start with one of her books.
ReplyDeleteHi, Brian!
DeleteThanks!! Glad you like this list, too!! <3 <3
I regret to confess that I have yet to read "The Handmaid's Tale", of which I've heard SO many GREAT things! As for Cherryh, I did read her Morgaine trilogy, which is actually fantasy, several years ago.
As for the other authors on this list, I agree with you that Jemisin looks very interesting. Of course, I want to read works by the others, as well.
Also like you, I need to read more SF!! Lol.
Thanks for the nice comment!! <3 :)
I haven't read any of these authors but I really want to read Margaret Atwood's books. I've seen the tv shows of The Handmaid's Tale and Alias Grace so of course I need to read the books too.
ReplyDeleteHi, Steph!
DeleteThe only author on this list whose work I've read is C.J. Cherryh. I read her Morgaine trilogy several years ago.
Of course, I want to read "The Handmaid's Tale" myself. I haven't seen the TV shows based on it, but it's a very well-known and highly-praised work!
Thanks for commenting!! HUGS!!! <3 <3 <3 :) :) :)
A great list - N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth series is fabulous and as for C.J. Cherryh - her writing inspired me to want to write science fiction. I've dreamt of that opening scene from Heavy Time... Thank you for bringing back some really happy memories, Maria:))
ReplyDeleteHi, Sarah!
DeleteSo glad you like my list!! <3 <3
I haven't read any of Jemisin's books, I regret to say..... :( I do own "The Broken Kingdoms", would you believe? This is, as you most likely know, the second book in the Inheritance Trilogy. I need to start reading this author! As Brian stated, in his comment above, this author is very interesting! And she even inspired you to want to write SF! WOW!!
I'll have to check out "Heavy Time".
You're very welcome for the memories! And thanks to YOU for the comment!! HUGS!!! <3 <3 <3 :) :) :)