Susanna Clarke
Encyclopedia
Susanna Mary Clarke is a British author best known for her debut novel
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
(2004), a Hugo Award
-winning alternate history. Clarke began Jonathan Strange in 1993 and worked on it during her spare time. For the next decade, she published short stories from the Strange universe, but it was not until 2003 that Bloomsbury bought her manuscript and began work on its publication. The novel became a bestseller. Two years later, she published a collection of her short stories, The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories
(2006). Both Clarke's novel and her short stories are set in a magical England and written in a pastiche
of the styles of 19th-century writers such as Jane Austen
and Charles Dickens
. While Strange focuses on the relationship of two men, Jonathan Strange and Gilbert Norrell, the stories in Ladies focus on the power women gain through magic.
, England, the eldest daughter of a Methodist minister. She spent her childhood in various towns across Northern England
and Scotland, and enjoyed reading the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
, Charles Dickens
, and, Jane Austen
. She received a Bachelor of Arts
degree in philosophy, politics, and economics from St Hilda's College, Oxford
in 1981. For eight years, she worked in publishing at Quarto and Gordon Fraser
. She then spent two years teaching English as a foreign language in Turin
, Italy and Bilbao
, Spain. She returned to England in 1992 and spent the rest of that year in County Durham
, in a house that looked out over the North Sea. There she began working on her first novel, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. In 1993, she was hired by Simon & Schuster
in Cambridge
to edit cookbooks, a job she kept for the next decade.
's The Lord of the Rings
and afterwards was inspired to "[try] writing a novel of magic and fantasy". After she returned from Spain in 1993, Clarke began to think seriously about writing her novel. She signed up for a five-day fantasy and science-fiction writing workshop, co-taught by science fiction and fantasy writers Colin Greenland
and Geoff Ryman
. The students were expected to prepare a short story before attending, but Clarke only had "bundles" of material for her novel. From this she extracted "The Ladies of Grace Adieu
", a fairy tale
about three women secretly practising magic who are discovered by the famous Jonathan Strange. Greenland was so impressed with the story that, without Clarke's knowledge, he sent an excerpt to his friend, the fantasy writer Neil Gaiman
. Gaiman later said, "It was terrifying from my point of view to read this first short story that had so much assurance ... It was like watching someone sit down to play the piano for the first time and she plays a sonata." Gaiman showed the story to his friend, science-fiction writer and editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden
. Clarke learned of these events when Hayden called and offered to publish her story in his anthology Starlight 1
(1996), which featured pieces by well-regarded science-fiction and fantasy writers. She accepted, and the book won the World Fantasy Award
for best anthology in 1997.
Clarke spent the next ten years working on the novel in her spare time. She also published stories in Starlight 2 (1998) and Starlight 3 (2001); according to the New York Times Magazine, her work was known and appreciated by a small group of fantasy fans and critics on the internet. Overall, she published seven short stories in anthologies. "Mr Simonelli, or The Fairy Widower" was shortlisted for a World Fantasy Award in 2001.
Clarke was never sure, however, if she would finish her novel or if it would be published. Clarke tried to write for three hours each day, beginning at 5:30 am, but struggled to keep this schedule. Rather than writing the novel from beginning to end, she wrote in fragments and attempted to stitch them together. Clarke, admitting that the project was for herself and not for the reader, "clung to this method" "because I felt that if I went back and started at the beginning, [the novel] would lack depth, and I would just be skimming the surface of what I could do. But if I had known it was going to take me ten years, I would never have begun. I was buoyed up by thinking that I would finish it next year, or the year after next." Clarke and Greenland fell in love while she was writing the novel and moved in together.
Around 2001, Clarke "had begun to despair", and started looking for someone to help her finish and sell the book. Giles Gordon
became her first literary agent
and sold the unfinished manuscript to Bloomsbury in early 2003, after two publishers rejected it as unmarketable. Bloomsbury were so sure the novel would be a success that they offered Clarke a £1 million advance. They printed 250,000 hardcover copies simultaneously in the United States, Britain, and Germany. Seventeen translations were begun before the first English publication was released on 8 September 2004 in the United States and on 30 September in the United Kingdom.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is an alternative history set in 19th-century England during the Napoleonic Wars
. It is based on the premise that magic once existed in England and has returned with two men: Gilbert Norrell and Jonathan Strange. Centering on the relationship between these two men, the novel investigates the nature of "Englishness" and the boundary between reason and madness. It has been described as a fantasy
novel, an alternative history, and an historical novel
and draws on various Romantic
literary traditions, such as the comedy of manners
, the Gothic tale
, and the Byronic hero
. Clarke’s style has frequently been described as a pastiche
, particularly of 19th-century British writers such as Charles Dickens
, Jane Austen
, and George Meredith
. The supernatural is contrasted with and highlighted by mundane details and Clarke's tone combines arch wit with antiquarian quaintness. The text is supplemented with almost 200 footnotes, outlining the backstory and an entire fictional corpus of magical scholarship. The novel was well-received by critics and reached number three on the New York Times bestseller list
, remaining on the list for eleven weeks.
and Mary, Queen of Scots. The collection is a "sly, frequently comical, feminist revision" of Jonathan Strange. In tone, the stories are similar to the novel—"nearly every one of them is told in a lucid, frequently deadpan, bedtime-story voice strikingly similar to the voice that narrates the novel."
The title story, "The Ladies of Grace Adieu", is set in early 19th century Gloucestershire
and concerns the friendship of three young women, Cassandra Parbringer, Miss Tobias, and Mrs. Fields. Though the events of the story do not actually appear in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, they are referenced in a footnote in Chapter 43. Clarke has said, "For a long time it was my hope that these three ladies should eventually find a place in ... the novel ... I decided there was no place for them ... I deliberately kept women to the domestic sphere in the interests of authenticity ... it was important that real and alternate history appeared to have converged. This meant that I needed to write the women and the servants, as far as possible, as they would have been written in a 19th-century novel." Reviewers highlighted this tale, one calling it "the most striking story" of the collection and "a staunchly feminist take on power relations". In her review of the volume in Strange Horizons
, Victoria Hoyle writes that "there is something incredibly precise, clean, and cold about Clarke's portrayal of 'women's magic' in this story (and throughout the collection)—it is urgent and desperate, but it is also natural and in the course of things."
The collection received many positive reviews, though some critics compared the short stories unfavorably with the highly-acclaimed and more substantial Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Hoyle wrote in her review that "the stories ... are consistently subtle and enchanting, and as charismatic as any reader could wish, but, while the collection has the panache of the novel, it lacks its glorious self-possession."
. She is working on a book that begins a few years after Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell ends and which will center around characters who, as Clarke says, are "a bit lower down the social scale".
.
Debut novel
A debut novel is the first novel an author publishes. Debut novels are the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to publish in the future...
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is the 2004 first novel by British writer Susanna Clarke. An alternative history set in 19th-century England around the time of the Napoleonic Wars, it is based on the premise that magic once existed in England and has returned with two men: Gilbert Norrell and...
(2004), a Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
-winning alternate history. Clarke began Jonathan Strange in 1993 and worked on it during her spare time. For the next decade, she published short stories from the Strange universe, but it was not until 2003 that Bloomsbury bought her manuscript and began work on its publication. The novel became a bestseller. Two years later, she published a collection of her short stories, The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories
The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories
The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories, published in October 2006, is a collection of eight short stories by Susanna Clarke and illustrated by Charles Vess...
(2006). Both Clarke's novel and her short stories are set in a magical England and written in a pastiche
Pastiche
A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
of the styles of 19th-century writers such as Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
and Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
. While Strange focuses on the relationship of two men, Jonathan Strange and Gilbert Norrell, the stories in Ladies focus on the power women gain through magic.
Early life
Clarke was born on 1 November 1959 in NottinghamNottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, England, the eldest daughter of a Methodist minister. She spent her childhood in various towns across Northern England
Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North or the North Country, is a cultural region of England. It is not an official government region, but rather an informal amalgamation of counties. The southern extent of the region is roughly the River Trent, while the North is bordered...
and Scotland, and enjoyed reading the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
, Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, and, Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
. She received a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in philosophy, politics, and economics from St Hilda's College, Oxford
St Hilda's College, Oxford
St Hilda's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England.The college was founded in 1893 as a hall for women, and remained an all-women's college until 2006....
in 1981. For eight years, she worked in publishing at Quarto and Gordon Fraser
Gordon Fraser
Gordon Fraser was a British publisher and literary editor. He was educated at Cambridge. A student of F.R. Leavis, he founded, while still an undergraduate, The Minority Press which published chiefly essays of Leavis and works of other Cambridge students from 1930 to 1933...
. She then spent two years teaching English as a foreign language in Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
, Italy and Bilbao
Bilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
, Spain. She returned to England in 1992 and spent the rest of that year in County Durham
County Durham
County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
, in a house that looked out over the North Sea. There she began working on her first novel, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. In 1993, she was hired by Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
to edit cookbooks, a job she kept for the next decade.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Clarke first developed the idea for Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell while she was teaching in Bilbao: "I had a kind of waking dream ... about a man in 18th century clothes in a place rather like Venice, talking to some English tourists. And I felt strongly that he had some sort of magical background – he'd been dabbling in magic, and something had gone badly wrong." She had also recently reread J. R. R. TolkienJ. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
and afterwards was inspired to "[try] writing a novel of magic and fantasy". After she returned from Spain in 1993, Clarke began to think seriously about writing her novel. She signed up for a five-day fantasy and science-fiction writing workshop, co-taught by science fiction and fantasy writers Colin Greenland
Colin Greenland
Colin Greenland is a British science fiction writer, whose first story won the second prize in a 1982 Faber & Faber competition. His best known novel is Take Back Plenty , winner of both major British science fiction awards, the 1990 British SF Association award and the 1991 Arthur C...
and Geoff Ryman
Geoff Ryman
Geoffrey Charles Ryman is a writer of science fiction, fantasy and surrealistic or "slipstream" fiction.Ryman currently lectures in Creative Writing for University of Manchester's English Department. His most recent full-length novel, The King's Last Song, is set in Cambodia, both at the time of...
. The students were expected to prepare a short story before attending, but Clarke only had "bundles" of material for her novel. From this she extracted "The Ladies of Grace Adieu
The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories
The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories, published in October 2006, is a collection of eight short stories by Susanna Clarke and illustrated by Charles Vess...
", a fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
about three women secretly practising magic who are discovered by the famous Jonathan Strange. Greenland was so impressed with the story that, without Clarke's knowledge, he sent an excerpt to his friend, the fantasy writer Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman
Neil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
. Gaiman later said, "It was terrifying from my point of view to read this first short story that had so much assurance ... It was like watching someone sit down to play the piano for the first time and she plays a sonata." Gaiman showed the story to his friend, science-fiction writer and editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Patrick James Nielsen Hayden , is an American science fiction editor, fan, fanzine publisher, essayist, reviewer, anthologist, teacher and blogger. He is a World Fantasy Award and Hugo Award winner , and is an editor and the Manager of Science Fiction at Tor Books...
. Clarke learned of these events when Hayden called and offered to publish her story in his anthology Starlight 1
Starlight (anthology series)
Starlight is a science fiction and fantasy series edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden and published by Tor Books.-Volumes:* Starlight 1 * Starlight 2 * Starlight 3 -Awards:...
(1996), which featured pieces by well-regarded science-fiction and fantasy writers. She accepted, and the book 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...
for best anthology in 1997.
Clarke was never sure, however, if she would finish her novel or if it would be published. Clarke tried to write for three hours each day, beginning at 5:30 am, but struggled to keep this schedule. Rather than writing the novel from beginning to end, she wrote in fragments and attempted to stitch them together. Clarke, admitting that the project was for herself and not for the reader, "clung to this method" "because I felt that if I went back and started at the beginning, [the novel] would lack depth, and I would just be skimming the surface of what I could do. But if I had known it was going to take me ten years, I would never have begun. I was buoyed up by thinking that I would finish it next year, or the year after next." Clarke and Greenland fell in love while she was writing the novel and moved in together.
Around 2001, Clarke "had begun to despair", and started looking for someone to help her finish and sell the book. Giles Gordon
Giles Gordon
Giles Alexander Esmé Gordon was a Scottish literary agent and writer, based for most of his career in London....
became her first literary agent
Literary agent
A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers and film producers and assists in the sale and deal negotiation of the same. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwriters and major non-fiction writers...
and sold the unfinished manuscript to Bloomsbury in early 2003, after two publishers rejected it as unmarketable. Bloomsbury were so sure the novel would be a success that they offered Clarke a £1 million advance. They printed 250,000 hardcover copies simultaneously in the United States, Britain, and Germany. Seventeen translations were begun before the first English publication was released on 8 September 2004 in the United States and on 30 September in the United Kingdom.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is an alternative history set in 19th-century England during the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
. It is based on the premise that magic once existed in England and has returned with two men: Gilbert Norrell and Jonathan Strange. Centering on the relationship between these two men, the novel investigates the nature of "Englishness" and the boundary between reason and madness. It has been described as a fantasy
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...
novel, an alternative history, and an historical novel
Historical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
and draws on various Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
literary traditions, such as the comedy of manners
Comedy of manners
The comedy of manners is a genre of play/television/film which satirizes the manners and affectations of a social class, often represented by stock characters, such as the miles gloriosus in ancient times, the fop and the rake during the Restoration, or an old person pretending to be young...
, the Gothic tale
Gothic fiction
Gothic fiction, sometimes referred to as Gothic horror, is a genre or mode of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. Gothicism's origin is attributed to English author Horace Walpole, with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto, subtitled "A Gothic Story"...
, and the Byronic hero
Byronic hero
The Byronic hero is an idealised but flawed character exemplified in the life and writings of English Romantic poet Lord Byron. It was characterised by Lady Caroline Lamb, later a lover of Byron's, as being "mad, bad, and dangerous to know"...
. Clarke’s style has frequently been described as a pastiche
Pastiche
A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
, particularly of 19th-century British writers such as Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
, Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
, and George Meredith
George Meredith
George Meredith, OM was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era.- Life :Meredith was born in Portsmouth, England, a son and grandson of naval outfitters. His mother died when he was five. At the age of 14 he was sent to a Moravian School in Neuwied, Germany, where he remained for two...
. The supernatural is contrasted with and highlighted by mundane details and Clarke's tone combines arch wit with antiquarian quaintness. The text is supplemented with almost 200 footnotes, outlining the backstory and an entire fictional corpus of magical scholarship. The novel was well-received by critics and reached number three on the New York Times bestseller list
New York Times Best Seller list
The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
, remaining on the list for eleven weeks.
The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories
In 2006, Clarke published a collection of eight fairy tales presented as the work of several different writers, seven of which had been previously anthologized. The volume's focus on "female mastery of the dark arts" is reflected in the ladies of Grace Adieu's magical abilities and the prominent role needlework plays in saving the Duke of WellingtonArthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
and Mary, Queen of Scots. The collection is a "sly, frequently comical, feminist revision" of Jonathan Strange. In tone, the stories are similar to the novel—"nearly every one of them is told in a lucid, frequently deadpan, bedtime-story voice strikingly similar to the voice that narrates the novel."
The title story, "The Ladies of Grace Adieu", is set in early 19th century Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
and concerns the friendship of three young women, Cassandra Parbringer, Miss Tobias, and Mrs. Fields. Though the events of the story do not actually appear in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, they are referenced in a footnote in Chapter 43. Clarke has said, "For a long time it was my hope that these three ladies should eventually find a place in ... the novel ... I decided there was no place for them ... I deliberately kept women to the domestic sphere in the interests of authenticity ... it was important that real and alternate history appeared to have converged. This meant that I needed to write the women and the servants, as far as possible, as they would have been written in a 19th-century novel." Reviewers highlighted this tale, one calling it "the most striking story" of the collection and "a staunchly feminist take on power relations". In her review of the volume in Strange Horizons
Strange Horizons
Strange Horizons is an online speculative fiction magazine. It also features speculative poetry in every issue....
, Victoria Hoyle writes that "there is something incredibly precise, clean, and cold about Clarke's portrayal of 'women's magic' in this story (and throughout the collection)—it is urgent and desperate, but it is also natural and in the course of things."
The collection received many positive reviews, though some critics compared the short stories unfavorably with the highly-acclaimed and more substantial Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Hoyle wrote in her review that "the stories ... are consistently subtle and enchanting, and as charismatic as any reader could wish, but, while the collection has the panache of the novel, it lacks its glorious self-possession."
Current
Clarke currently resides in Cambridge with her partner, the science fiction novelist and reviewer Colin GreenlandColin Greenland
Colin Greenland is a British science fiction writer, whose first story won the second prize in a 1982 Faber & Faber competition. His best known novel is Take Back Plenty , winner of both major British science fiction awards, the 1990 British SF Association award and the 1991 Arthur C...
. She is working on a book that begins a few years after Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell ends and which will center around characters who, as Clarke says, are "a bit lower down the social scale".
Awards and nominations
| Award | Year | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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... Novella Award |
2001 | "Mr Simonelli, or the Fairy Widower" | Shortlisted |
| Man Booker Prize | 2004 | Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell | Longlisted |
| Whitbread First Novel Award | 2004 | Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell | Shortlisted |
| Guardian First Book Award Guardian First Book Award Guardian First Book Award, issued before 1999 as Guardian Fiction Prize or Guardian Fiction Award, is awarded to new writing in fiction and non-fiction.-History:... |
2004 | Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell | Shortlisted |
| Times Best Novel of the Year | 2004 | Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell | Won |
| British Book Awards British Book Awards The Galaxy National Book Awards are a series of British literary awards focused on the best UK writers and their works, as selected by an academy of members from the British book publishing industry... Literary Fiction Award |
2005 | Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell | Shortlisted |
| Hugo Award for Best Novel Hugo Award for Best Novel The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially... |
2005 | Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell | Won |
| World Fantasy Award for Best Novel World Fantasy Award for Best Novel This World Fantasy Award is given to the fantasy novel or novels voted best by a panel of judges, and presented each year at the World Fantasy Convention.-1975:... |
2005 | Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell | Won |
| Locus Award for Best First Novel Locus Award for Best First Novel Winners of the Locus Award for Best First Novel, awarded by the Locus magazine. Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar year.... |
2005 | Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell | Won |
| Mythopoeic Award for Adult Literature | 2005 | Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell | Won |
| British Book Awards British Book Awards The Galaxy National Book Awards are a series of British literary awards focused on the best UK writers and their works, as selected by an academy of members from the British book publishing industry... Newcomer of the Year Award |
2005 | Best new author | Won |
List of works
Clarke has published her short stories in multiple locations. This list contains the first publication of each as well as her collection The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other StoriesThe Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories
The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories, published in October 2006, is a collection of eight short stories by Susanna Clarke and illustrated by Charles Vess...
.
- "The Ladies of Grace Adieu". Starlight 1Starlight (anthology series)Starlight is a science fiction and fantasy series edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden and published by Tor Books.-Volumes:* Starlight 1 * Starlight 2 * Starlight 3 -Awards:...
. Ed. Patrick Nielsen HaydenPatrick Nielsen HaydenPatrick James Nielsen Hayden , is an American science fiction editor, fan, fanzine publisher, essayist, reviewer, anthologist, teacher and blogger. He is a World Fantasy Award and Hugo Award winner , and is an editor and the Manager of Science Fiction at Tor Books...
. New York: Tor, 1996. - "Stopp’t-Clock Yard". The Sandman: Book of DreamsThe Sandman: Book of DreamsThe Sandman: Book of Dreams , edited by Ed Kramer and Neil Gaiman, is an anthology of short stories based on The Sandman comic book series.-Behind the scenes:...
. Eds. Ed Kramer and Neil GaimanNeil GaimanNeil Richard Gaiman born 10 November 1960)is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. His notable works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book...
. New York: Harper Prism, 1996. - "On Lickerish Hill". Black Swan, White Raven. Eds. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. New York: Avon, 1997.
- "Mrs Mabb". Starlight 2Starlight (anthology series)Starlight is a science fiction and fantasy series edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden and published by Tor Books.-Volumes:* Starlight 1 * Starlight 2 * Starlight 3 -Awards:...
. Ed. Patrick Nielsen Hayden. New York: Tor, 1998. - "The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse". A Fall of Stardust. Ed. Charles VessCharles VessCharles Vess is an American fantasy artist and comic-book illustrator who has specialized in the illustration of myths and fairy tales. His illustrations are strongly influenced by the work of artists and illustrators such as Arthur Rackham and Alphonse Mucha...
. Green Man Press, 1999. - "Mr. Simonelli or the Fairy Widower". Black Heart, Ivory Bones. Eds. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. New York: Avon, 2000.
- "Tom Brightwind, or, How the Fairy Bridge Was Built at Thoresby". Starlight 3Starlight (anthology series)Starlight is a science fiction and fantasy series edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden and published by Tor Books.-Volumes:* Starlight 1 * Starlight 2 * Starlight 3 -Awards:...
. Ed. Patrick Nielsen Hayden. New York: Tor, 2001. - Jonathan Strange & Mr NorrellJonathan Strange & Mr NorrellJonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is the 2004 first novel by British writer Susanna Clarke. An alternative history set in 19th-century England around the time of the Napoleonic Wars, it is based on the premise that magic once existed in England and has returned with two men: Gilbert Norrell and...
. New York and London: Bloomsbury, 2004. - "Antickes and Frets". The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. 31 October 2004. - "John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner". The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other StoriesThe Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other StoriesThe Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories, published in October 2006, is a collection of eight short stories by Susanna Clarke and illustrated by Charles Vess...
. New York and London: Bloomsbury, 2006. - The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other StoriesThe Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other StoriesThe Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories, published in October 2006, is a collection of eight short stories by Susanna Clarke and illustrated by Charles Vess...
. New York and London: Bloomsbury, 2006. - The Dweller in High PlacesThe Dweller in High PlacesThe Dweller in High Places was broadcast on BBC 7's The 7th Dimension program as part of the Blood Lines series. It aired on February 26, 2007 at 18:30 GMT...
. BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. 26 February 2007.
External links
- Susanna Clarke's web site
- The Library at Hurtfew, a comprehensive fan wiki.