Ann Downer
Encyclopedia
Ann Downer is an American
writer, principally of fantasy
novels for children and young adults, as well as short fiction and poetry.
Ann Downer was born in Arlington, Virginia in 1960 and grew up in Manila and Bangkok and recalls avidly reading fantasy fiction.
Her first published work was a trilogy published in the late 1980s and early 1990s (The Spellkey, The Glass Salamander, and The Books of the Keepers), collected in a revised edition in 1995 as The Spellkey Trilogy. A second series for middle-grade readers, begun in 2003 with the novel Hatching Magic, continues with The Dragon of Never-Was (2006). The Spellkey series is high fantasy, taking place wholly in an invented world and chronicling a good-versus-evil story of two foundlings, a stableboy and an ostracized seer. Hatching Magic and its sequel, The Dragon of Never-Was, are contemporary fantasies with elements of time travel
. The series follows a young girl, Theodora Oglethorpe, as she discovers a world of wizardry and magic. While Downer’s books are frequently compared to the work of Patricia A. McKillip
and Diana Wynne Jones
, she has cited the influence of Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea
books and the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
in shaping her outlook and prose style.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer, principally of fantasy
Fantasy literature
Fantasy literature is fantasy in written form. Historically speaking, literature has composed the majority of fantasy works. Since the 1950s however, a growing segment of the fantasy genre has taken the form of films, television programs, graphic novels, video games, music, painting, and other...
novels for children and young adults, as well as short fiction and poetry.
Ann Downer was born in Arlington, Virginia in 1960 and grew up in Manila and Bangkok and recalls avidly reading fantasy fiction.
Her first published work was a trilogy published in the late 1980s and early 1990s (The Spellkey, The Glass Salamander, and The Books of the Keepers), collected in a revised edition in 1995 as The Spellkey Trilogy. A second series for middle-grade readers, begun in 2003 with the novel Hatching Magic, continues with The Dragon of Never-Was (2006). The Spellkey series is high fantasy, taking place wholly in an invented world and chronicling a good-versus-evil story of two foundlings, a stableboy and an ostracized seer. Hatching Magic and its sequel, The Dragon of Never-Was, are contemporary fantasies with elements of time travel
Time travel in fiction
Time travel is a common theme in science fiction and is depicted in a variety of media. It simply means either going forward in time or backward, to experience the future, or the past.-Literature:...
. The series follows a young girl, Theodora Oglethorpe, as she discovers a world of wizardry and magic. While Downer’s books are frequently compared to the work of Patricia A. McKillip
Patricia A. McKillip
Patricia Anne McKillip is an American author of fantasy and science fiction novels. Her novels have been winners of the World Fantasy Award, Locus Award and Mythopoeic Award. In 2008, she was a recipient of the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement...
and Diana Wynne Jones
Diana Wynne Jones
Diana Wynne Jones was a British writer, principally of fantasy novels for children and adults, as well as a small amount of non-fiction...
, she has cited the influence of Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea
Earthsea
Earthsea is a fictional realm originally created by Ursula K. Le Guin for her short story "The Word of Unbinding", published in 1964. Earthsea became the setting for a further six books, beginning with A Wizard of Earthsea, first published in 1968, and continuing with The Tombs of Atuan, The...
books and the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
Lloyd Alexander
Lloyd Chudley Alexander was a widely influential American author of more than forty books, mostly fantasy novels for children and adolescents, as well as several adult books...
in shaping her outlook and prose style.