Ellen Kushner
Encyclopedia
Ellen Kushner is an American writer
of fantasy novels
, who for many years was the host of the radio program Sound & Spirit, produced by WGBH
in Boston and distributed by Public Radio International
.
, Ohio
. She lives in New York City
with her wife and sometime collaborator, Delia Sherman
(they were married in 1996).
gamebook
s, after which her first novel
, Swordspoint was published in 1987. Swordspoint and its sequel
(co-authored by Sherman) The Fall of the Kings (2002), are mannerpunk novels set in a nameless imaginary capital city
and its raffish district of Riverside, where swordsmen-for-hire ply their trade. She has written another sequel set 18 years after Swordspoint, called The Privilege of the Sword, which was published in July 2006. A hardcover first of The Privilege of the Sword was published in late August 2006 by Small Beer Press
.
Kushner's second novel, Thomas the Rhymer, won the World Fantasy Award
and the Mythopoeic Award in 1991. She has also published short stories and poetry in various anthologies, including The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror and The Borderland Series
of urban fantasy
anthologies for teenage readers.
In 2002, she released a CD of her story "The Golden Dreydl: A Klezmer Nutcracker," which uses music from Pyotr Tchaikovsky's
"The Nutcracker
" to tell a Hanukkah
story. The music on the CD is performed by Shirim Klezmer Orchestra. "The Golden Dreydl" won a Gracie Award from American Women in Radio and Television.
With Sherman and others, she is actively involved in the Interstitial art
movement. She is also a member of the Endicott Studio
.
American literature
American literature is the written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies. For more specific discussions of poetry and theater, see Poetry of the United States and Theater in the United States. During its early history, America was a series of British...
of fantasy novels
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
, who for many years was the host of the radio program Sound & Spirit, produced by WGBH
WGBH (FM)
WGBH is a public radio station located in Boston, Massachusetts. WGBH is a member station of NPR and PRI. The license-holder is the WGBH Educational Foundation, which also owns WGBH-TV and WGBX-TV....
in Boston and distributed by Public Radio International
Public Radio International
Public Radio International is a Minneapolis-based American public radio organization, with locations in Boston, New York, London and Beijing. PRI's tagline is "Hear a different voice." PRI is a major public media content creator and also distributes programs from many sources...
.
Background and personal life
Kushner was born in Washington, DC and grew up in ClevelandCleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. She lives in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
with her wife and sometime collaborator, Delia Sherman
Delia Sherman
Cordelia Caroline Sherman , known professionally as Delia Sherman, is a fantasy writer and editor. Her novel The Porcelain Dove won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award...
(they were married in 1996).
Writing career
Kushner's first books were four Choose Your Own AdventureChoose Your Own Adventure
Choose Your Own Adventure is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actions and the plot's outcome. The series was based on a...
gamebook
Gamebook
A gamebook is a work of fiction that allows the reader to participate in the story by making effective choices. The narrative branches along various paths through the use of numbered paragraphs or pages...
s, after which her first novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
, Swordspoint was published in 1987. Swordspoint and its sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
(co-authored by Sherman) The Fall of the Kings (2002), are mannerpunk novels set in a nameless imaginary capital city
Capital City
Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
and its raffish district of Riverside, where swordsmen-for-hire ply their trade. She has written another sequel set 18 years after Swordspoint, called The Privilege of the Sword, which was published in July 2006. A hardcover first of The Privilege of the Sword was published in late August 2006 by Small Beer Press
Small Beer Press
Small Beer Press is a publisher of fantasy and literary fiction, based in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was founded by Gavin Grant and Kelly Link in 2000 and publishes novels, collections, and anthologies. It also publishes the zine Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, chapbooks, the Peapod Classics...
.
Kushner's second novel, Thomas the Rhymer, won the World Fantasy Award
World Fantasy Award
The World Fantasy Awards are annual, international awards given to authors and artists who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the field of fantasy...
and the Mythopoeic Award in 1991. She has also published short stories and poetry in various anthologies, including The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror and The Borderland Series
The Borderland Series
Borderland is a series of urban fantasy novels and stories created for teenage readers by Terri Windling. The series is set in Bordertown, a dystopian metropolis that lies along the border between "the Elflands" and "The World". The series consists of five anthologies and three novels to date...
of urban fantasy
Urban fantasy
Urban fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy defined by place; the fantastic narrative has an urban setting. Many urban fantasies are set in contemporary times and contain supernatural elements. However, the stories can take place in historical, modern, or futuristic periods...
anthologies for teenage readers.
In 2002, she released a CD of her story "The Golden Dreydl: A Klezmer Nutcracker," which uses music from Pyotr Tchaikovsky's
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
"The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St...
" to tell a Hanukkah
Hanukkah
Hanukkah , also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE...
story. The music on the CD is performed by Shirim Klezmer Orchestra. "The Golden Dreydl" won a Gracie Award from American Women in Radio and Television.
With Sherman and others, she is actively involved in the Interstitial art
Interstitial art
Interstitial art is a term first coined in the 1990s, and increasingly popularized in the early 2000s, that refers to any work of art whose basic nature falls between, rather than within, the familiar boundaries of accepted genres or media, thus making the work difficult to easily categorize or...
movement. She is also a member of the Endicott Studio
Endicott Studio
Endicott Studio is a nonprofit organization, based in the United States and United Kingdom, that is dedicated to literary, visual, and performance arts inspired by myth, folklore, fairy tales, and the oral storytelling tradition. It was founded in 1987 by Terri Windling, and is co-directed by...
.
Choose Your Own Adventure books
- 47. Outlaws of Sherwood Forest (August, 1985)
- 56. The Enchanted Kingdom (May, 1986)
- 58. Statue of Liberty Adventure (July, 1986)
- 63. Mystery of the Secret Room (December, 1986)
- 86. Knights of the Round Table (December, 1988)
Riverside
- Swordspoint (1987)
- The Fall of the Kings (with Delia Sherman) (2002)
- Nominated for Mythopoeic Award Adult Literature
- Nominated for Locus Award for Best Fantasy NovelLocus Award for Best Fantasy NovelLocus Award for Best Fantasy Novel is one of the awards given by Locus Magazine.-External links:* * *...
- Nominated for 2003 Gaylactic Spectrum Award Best Novel
- The Privilege of the Sword (2006)
- Winner of 2007 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel
- Nominated for 2007 Nebula AwardNebula AwardThe Nebula Award is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America , for the best science fiction/fantasy fiction published in the United States during the previous year...
, Best Novel - Nominated for 2007 Gaylactic Spectrum Award Best Novel
Other novels
- Thomas the RhymerThomas the Rhymer (novel)Thomas the Rhymer is a fantasy novel written by Ellen Kushner. It is based on the ballad of Thomas the Rhymer, a piece of folklore in which Thomas Learmonth's love of the Queen of Elfland was rewarded with the gift of prophecy. The novel won the 1991 World Fantasy Award and Mythopoeic Award.-Plot...
(1990)- Winner of 1991 World Fantasy AwardWorld Fantasy AwardThe World Fantasy Awards are annual, international awards given to authors and artists who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the field of fantasy...
and the Mythopoeic Award
- Winner of 1991 World Fantasy Award
- St. Nicholas and the Valley Beyond the World's Edge (1994)
Edited
- Basilisk (1980)
- Nominated for Balrog Award for Best Fantasy Anthology
- The Horns of ElflandThe Horns of ElflandThe Horns of Elfland is a 1997 fantasy anthology edited by Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman and Donald G. Keller.-Background:The Horns of Elfland was first published in April 1997 by Roc Books in paperback format. It was a nominee in the 1998 Locus Awards for best anthology, finishing eighth out of 17....
(with Delia ShermanDelia ShermanCordelia Caroline Sherman , known professionally as Delia Sherman, is a fantasy writer and editor. Her novel The Porcelain Dove won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award...
and Donald G. KellerDonald G. KellerDonald G. Keller is a science fiction and fantasy editor and critic. He was the co-founder of Serconia Press and was Managing Editor and a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Science Fiction , where his seminal essay on Fantasy of Manners, 'The Manner of Fantasy', appeared in 1991.He...
) (1997)- Nominated for Locus Award Best Anthology
- "Welcome To Bordertown (New Stories and Poems of the Borderlands)" (with Holly BlackHolly BlackHolly Black née Riggenbach is an American writer and editor, best known for writing The Spiderwick Chronicles, a series of children's fantasy books she created with illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi.-Early life and education:...
) (2011)