Nicola Griffith
Nicola Griffith (/ˈnɪkələ ˈɡrɪfɪθ/; born 30 September 1960) is a British-American[1] novelist, essayist, and teacher. She has won the Washington State Book Award, Nebula Award, James Tiptree, Jr. Award, World Fantasy Award and six Lambda Literary Awards.
Nicola Griffith | |
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![]() Nicola Griffith (2014) | |
Born | Yorkshire, England | 30 September 1960
Occupation |
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Citizenship | United Kingdom and United States |
Period | 1987–present |
Genre | Fiction |
Website | |
nicolagriffith |
Personal life
Early life
Griffith was born 30 September 1960 in Leeds, to Margaret and Eric Griffith.[2]
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.[2] : 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[3] and Rosemary Sutcliff;[4][5] fantastic fiction including the works of E.E. Smith, Frank Herbert, and J.R.R. Tolkien; nonfiction and history — Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was a particular favorite;[3].
By the late 1980s, Griffith had begun experiencing symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS), though her illness remained undiagnosed. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in March 1993.[5]
While studying at Michigan State University, Griffith met and fell in love with fellow writer Kelley Eskridge.[5] On 4 September 1993, Griffith and Eskridge announced their commitment ceremony in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,[6] 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.[7] 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.[5] Her immigration resulted in a new law, and she is now a dual US/UK citizen.[8]
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.[8][9]
By 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.[5] Griffith has since published nine full-length novels, a memoir, and numerous short stories and novellas.
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."[10]
In 2015 she began #CripLit, an online community for disabled writers."[10]
Awards and honors
Year | Title | Award/Honor | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1993 | Ammonite | BSFA Award | Shortlist | [11] |
James Tiptree, Jr. Award | Winner | [12][13] | ||
Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Science Fiction/Fantasy | Winner | [14] | ||
Touching Fire | James Tiptree, Jr. Award | Longlist | [15] | |
1994 | Ammonite | Arthur C. Clarke Award | Shortlist | [16] |
Locus Award for First Novel | Shortlist | [17] | ||
1995 | "Yaguara" | Nebula Award for Best Novella | Nominee | [18] |
1996 | Slow River | Nebula Award for Best Novel | Winner | [19] |
Lambda Literary Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy | Finalist | [20] | ||
1998 | Bending the Landscape | Lambda Literary Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy | Winner | [21] |
1999 | The Blue Place | Gaylactic Spectrum Award for Best Novel | Nominee | [22] |
Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Mystery | Winner | [23] | ||
Bending the Landscape: Science Fiction | Gaylactic Spectrum Award for Best Other Work | Winner | [22] | |
Lambda Literary Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy | Winner | [23] | ||
2000 | Slow River | Gaylactic Spectrum Hall of Fame | Winner | [24] |
2002 | Bending the Landscape: Horror | Gaylactic Spectrum Award for Best Other Work | Winner | [25] |
Lambda Literary Award for Anthology | Finalist | [26] | ||
Lambda Literary Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy | Finalist | [26] | ||
2003 | Stay | Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction | Finalist | [27] |
2005 | With Her Body | Gaylactic Spectrum Award for Best Other Work | Finalist | [28] |
Lambda Literary Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy | Finalist | [29] | ||
2008 | And Now We Are Going to Have a Party | Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir or Biography | Winner | [30][31] |
2010 | "It Takes Two" | Hugo Award for Best Novelette | Finalist | [32] |
2013 | Hild | Bisexual Book Award for Bisexual Fiction | Shortlist | [33] |
James Tiptree, Jr. Award | Honor | [34][35] | ||
Nebula Award for Best Novel | Finalist | [36] | ||
2014 | John W. Campbell Memorial Award | Shortlist | [37] | |
Washington State Book Award | Winner | [38] | ||
2018 | So Lucky | Over the Rainbow Booklist | Top 10 | [39] |
2019 | So Lucky | Tournament of Books | Shortlist | [40] |
2019 | So Lucky | Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award | Shortlist | [41] |
2023 | Spear | Ursula K. Le Guin Prize | Shortlist | [42] |
Publications
Fiction
Aud Torvingen series
The Hild Sequence series
Nonfiction
- And Now We Are Going to Have a Party: Liner Notes to a Writer's Early Life, Payseur & Schmidt ISBN 9780978911416 (2007)
Anthologies
Short fiction
- 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)
- With Her Body, Aqueduct Press (2004, a collection containing Touching Fire, Songs of Bullfrogs, Cry of Geese, and Yaguara)
- It Takes Two (2009)
- Cold Wind, Tor Books, ISBN 9781466871342 (2014)[43]
Critical studies and reviews of Griffith's work
- Holland, Cecelia (December 2013). "Locus Looks at Books : Divers Hands". Locus (635): 22. Review of Hild.
References
- Griffith, Nicola (27 February 2013). "I am now an American citizen". Nicola Griffith. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- 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
- "If you like the Aud books you might like …,", "Ask Nicola". Retrieved 10 March 2014
- "The Makers of Britain" by Nicola Griffith. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
- van de Kruisweg, Ruud (1994). "Interview from HOLLAND SF". Nicola Griffith. Archived from the original on 15 May 2008. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- "Commitment - Griffith-Eskridge". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 19 September 1993. p. L3.
- Griffith, Nicola (13 October 2008). "Virgin birth (yes, really)". Nicola Griffith. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- "Nicola Griffith". Angela Ruskin University. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- Griffith, Nicola (4 July 2017). "The story of my PhD, Part 1: Opportunity". Nicola Griffith. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- "About". Nicola Griffith. 24 February 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- "1993 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- Lothian, Alexis (1 January 2020). "Jeanne Gomoll Retires from Motherboard « Otherwise Award". Otherwise Award. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- Notkin, Debbie (13 April 2017). "1993 Otherwise Award « Otherwise Award". Otherwise Award. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- "5th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. 14 July 1993. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- Notkin, Debbie (12 March 2010). "1993 Long List « Otherwise Award". Otherwise Award. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- "Arthur C. Clarke Award 1994". science fiction awards database. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- "Locus Awards 1994". science fiction awards database. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- "1995 Nebula Awards®". Nebula Awards. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- "1996 Nebula Awards®". Nebula Awards. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (15 July 1996). "8th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (15 July 1998). "10th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- "1999 Awards". Gaylactic Spectrum Awards. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
- Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (15 July 1999). "11th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- "2000 Awards". Gaylactic Spectrum Awards. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
- "2002 Awards". Gaylactic Spectrum Awards. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
- Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (10 July 2002). "14th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (10 July 2003). "15th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- "2005 Awards". Gaylactic Spectrum Awards. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
- Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (9 July 2005). "17th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (30 April 2007). "20th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- "2008 Lambda Award Winners Announced". McNally Robinson Booksellers. 5 June 2008. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- "2010 Hugo Awards Winners". Locus Online. 5 September 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- "2013 Bisexual Book Awards Winners". Locus Online. 4 June 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- Notkin, Debbie (31 October 2014). "The 2013 Tiptree Award winner has been selected! « Otherwise Award". Otherwise Award. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- Notkin, Debbie (31 October 2014). "2013 Honor List « Otherwise Award". Otherwise Award. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- "2013 Nebula Awards®". Nebula Awards. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- "2013 John W. Campbell Memorial Award Finalists". Locus Online. 19 May 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- "Griffith Wins Washington State Book Award". Locus Online. 13 October 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- 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.
- "2019 Tournament of Books Shortlist". Locus Online. 14 December 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- "2019 Shortlist". Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
- "The 2023 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction". The Ursula K. Le Guin Literary Trust. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
- "Cold Wind". 16 April 2014.
External links
- Official website
- Nicola Griffith at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- The story behind Hild – Online essay by Nicola Griffith : Freed by Constraint at Upcoming4.me
- 30 years ago : a love story in photos by Nicola Griffith, 2018