Patricia A. McKillip

Patricia Anne McKillip (February 29, 1948 – May 6, 2022) was an American author of fantasy and science fiction. She wrote predominantly standalone fantasy novels and has been called "one of the most accomplished prose stylists in the fantasy genre".[1] Her work won many awards, including the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2008.

Patricia Anne McKillip
McKillip in 2011
McKillip in 2011
Born(1948-02-29)February 29, 1948
Salem, Oregon, U.S.
DiedMay 6, 2022(2022-05-06) (aged 74)
Coos Bay, Oregon, U.S.
OccupationNovelist
EducationSan Jose State University (BA, MA)
GenreFantasy
Notable awards
SpouseDavid Lunde

Personal life

McKillip was born in Salem, Oregon to Wayne and Helen (née Roth) McKillip. She grew up in Oregon, Great Britain, and Germany. She attended the College of Notre Dame (Belmont, California) and San Jose State University (San Jose, California), where she earned her BA and MA degrees in English in the early 1970s.[2]

McKillip was married to David Lunde, a poet.[3] She died on May 6, 2022, at the age of 74 at her home in Coos Bay, Oregon.[4][5][6]

Career

McKillip's first publications were two short children's books, The Throme of the Erril of Sherill and The House on Parchment Street.[2] Her first novel, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, was published in 1974, when she was 26 years old, and won the World Fantasy Award in 1975.[7] She next wrote the Riddle-Master trilogy (1976–1979), which scholar Peter Nicholls described as "a work of classic stature".[8] It was selected as part of Gollancz's Fantasy Masterworks series.[9]

Since 1994, McKillip's writing comprised purely standalone novels.[8] Most of her novels feature cover paintings by Kinuko Y. Craft. On writing fantasy, she said, "The tropes of mythology and symbolism are the basics. It's like a notation in music; you can change it in really wacky ways, but the sound is always the same, the sound is always there. As long as we need these symbols, then the stories will be written. But if we destroy the old symbols, then we might just have to come up with new ones—who knows?"[7] Critic Brian Stableford described McKillip as "one of the most accomplished prose stylists in the fantasy genre",[1] while Nicholls and John Clute considered her "perhaps the most impressive author of fantasy story still active".[8]

McKillip was the Guest of Honor at the 1985 Mythcon and the 1999 World Fantasy Convention, and in 2005 the Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts published a special issue on her work.[10] She received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2008.[2][11]

Awards

McKillip holds the record for the most Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards (four) and nominations (fifteen).[12] She has also won World Fantasy Awards for Best Novel, as well as for Life Achievement.[13]

Awards and nominations
Award Work Result[13]
Hugo Award Harpist in the Wind (1979)Nominated
Locus Award Harpist in the Wind (1979)Won
The Bell at Sealey Head (2008)Nominated
Mythopoeic Award The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (1974)Nominated
The Changeling Sea (1988)Nominated
The Sorceress and the Cygnet (1991)Nominated
The Cygnet and the Firebird (1993)Nominated
Something Rich and Strange (1994)Won
The Book of Atrix Wolfe (1995)Nominated
Winter Rose (1996)Nominated
Song for the Basilisk (1998)Nominated
Ombria in Shadow (2002)Won
In the Forests of Serre (2003)Nominated
Alphabet of Thorn (2004)Nominated
Solstice Wood (2006)Won
The Bell at Sealey Head (2008)Nominated
The Bards of Bone Plain (2010)Nominated
Kingfisher (2016)Won
Nebula Award Winter Rose (1996)Nominated
The Tower at Stony Wood (2000)Nominated
World Fantasy Award The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (1974)Won
Harpist in the Wind (1979)Nominated
Ombria in Shadow (2002)Won
Od Magic (2005)Nominated

Bibliography
Main article: Patricia A. McKillip bibliography

References

Citations
  1. Stableford, Brian M. (1997). "McKillip, Patricia A.". In Clute, John; Grant, John (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. Archived from the original on 2018-05-16.
  2. Locus June 2011, p. 7.
  3. McKillip, Patricia A. The Bell at Sealey Head. New York: Penguin Books, 2008. Back flap of dust jacket.
  4. "May 13, 2022 Death Notices". The World. May 12, 2022. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  5. Wang, Amy (May 14, 2022). "Oregon fantasy author Patricia McKillip dies at 74". The Oregonian. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  6. "Patricia A. McKillip (1948–2022)". Locus. May 10, 2022. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  7. Locus June 2011, p. 67.
  8. Nicholls, Peter; Clute, John (October 26, 2021). "McKillip, Patricia A.". In Clute, John; Langford, David (eds.). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (4th ed.).
  9. Walton, Jo (2018). "1980 Hugo Award Winners and Nominees". An Informal History of the Hugos. Tor Books. Archived from the original on 2020-07-21.
  10. Mains, Christine (2005). "Introduction". Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. 16 (3): 175–177. JSTOR 43308777.
  11. "2008: World Fantasy Convention 2008". World Fantasy Convention. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
  12. "Mythopoeic Awards Tallies". Science Fiction Awards Database. Locus Science Fiction Foundation. Archived from the original on 2020-07-16. Retrieved 2021-08-08.
  13. "Patricia A. McKillip Awards". Science Fiction Awards Database. Locus Science Fiction Foundation. Archived from the original on 2021-06-28. Retrieved 2021-08-08.

Sources

Further reading
  • Spivack, Charlotte (1987). Merlin's Daughters: Contemporary Women Writers of Fantasy. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-24194-9.
  • Taylor, Audrey Isabel (2017). Patricia A. McKillip and the Art of Fantasy World-Building. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-1-4766-3145-5. OCLC 1000521614.
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