Nicola Griffith Explained

Nicola Griffith
Birth Date:1960 9, df=yes
Birth Place:Yorkshire, England
Citizenship:United Kingdom and United States
Period:1987–present
Genre:Fiction

Nicola Griffith (; born 30 September 1960) is a British American novelist, essayist, and teacher.[1] She has won the Washington State Book Award (twice), Nebula Award, James Tiptree, Jr. Award, World Fantasy Award, Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and six Lambda Literary Awards. In 2024 she was[2] inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Griffith was born 30 September 1960 in Leeds, to Margaret and Eric Griffith.[3] Griffith's family is Catholic and she is one of five children. She knew she was gay by age 13.[4]

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. 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[5] and Rosemary Sutcliff;[6] [7] fantastic fiction including the works of E. E. Smith, Frank Herbert, and J.R.R. Tolkien; nonfiction and history — Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was a particular favorite.

Griffith took interest in the sciences as a teenager. She entered University of Leeds to study microbiology but did not complete a degree. Griffith was the lead singer and cofounder of the band Janes Plane, which experienced some success in England before breaking up.

By the late 1980s, Griffith had begun experiencing symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS), though her illness remained undiagnosed. She was diagnosed with MS in March 1993.

While studying at Michigan State University, Griffith met and fell in love with fellow writer Kelley Eskridge. On 4 September 1993, Griffith and Eskridge announced their commitment ceremony in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution,[8] 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.[9] 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. Her immigration resulted in a new law, and she is now a dual US/UK citizen.[10]

Career

In 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. Griffith has since published nine full-length novels, a memoir, and numerous short stories, essays, and novellas. While Griffith has said that she "resists labels to describer her work," much of her published material contains themes of gender and sexuality.[11]

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."[12]

In 2015 she began #CripLit, an online community for disabled writers."

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.[13]

Awards and honors

YearTitle Award/HonorResultRef.
1993AmmoniteBSFA AwardShortlist[14]
Winner[15] [16]
Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Science Fiction/FantasyWinner[17]
Touching FireLonglist[18]
1994AmmoniteArthur C. Clarke AwardShortlist[19]
Locus Award for First NovelShortlist[20]
1995"Yaguara"Nebula Award for Best NovellaNominee[21]
1996Slow RiverNebula Award for Best NovelWinner[22]
Lambda Literary Award for Science Fiction/FantasyFinalist[23]
1998Bending the LandscapeLambda Literary Award for Science Fiction/FantasyWinner[24]
1999The Blue PlaceGaylactic Spectrum Award for Best NovelNominee[25]
Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian MysteryWinner[26]
Bending the Landscape: Science FictionGaylactic Spectrum Award for Best Other WorkWinner
Lambda Literary Award for Science Fiction/FantasyWinner
2000Slow RiverGaylactic Spectrum Hall of FameWinner[27]
2002Bending the Landscape: HorrorGaylactic Spectrum Award for Best Other WorkWinner[28]
Lambda Literary Award for AnthologyFinalist[29]
Lambda Literary Award for Science Fiction/FantasyFinalist
2003StayLambda Literary Award for Lesbian FictionFinalist[30]
2005With Her BodyGaylactic Spectrum Award for Best Other WorkFinalist[31]
Lambda Literary Award for Science Fiction/FantasyFinalist[32]
2008And Now We Are Going to Have a PartyLambda Literary Award for Lesbian Memoir or BiographyWinner[33] [34]
2010"It Takes Two"Hugo Award for Best NoveletteFinalist[35]
2013HildBisexual Book Award for Bisexual FictionShortlist[36]
Honor[37] [38]
Nebula Award for Best NovelFinalist[39]
2014John W. Campbell Memorial AwardShortlist[40]
Washington State Book AwardWinner[41]
2018So LuckyOver the Rainbow BooklistTop 10[42]
2019Tournament of BooksShortlist[43]
Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association AwardShortlist[44]
2023SpearUrsula K. Le Guin PrizeShortlist[45]

Publications

Fiction

Aud Torvingen series

The Hild Sequence series

Nonfiction

Anthologies

Collections

Short fiction

Critical studies and reviews of Griffith's work

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Griffith . Nicola . 27 February 2013 . I am now an American citizen . 25 February 2022 . Nicola Griffith.
  2. https://www.mopop.org/sffhof-2024-inductees
  3. Griffith, Nicola (2007). And Now We Are Going to Have a Party, Volume 1: Limb of Satan. Seattle: Payseur & Schmidt.
  4. Book: ProQuest Biographies . 2023 . Griffith, Nicola. ProQuest . .
  5. http://asknicola.blogspot.com/2011/04/if-you-like-aud-books-you-might-like.html "If you like the Aud books you might like …,"
  6. https://medium.com/p/ee665c4caa31 "The Makers of Britain"
  7. Web site: van de Kruisweg. Ruud. 1994. Interview from HOLLAND SF. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20080515170742/http://www.nicolagriffith.com/holland.html. 15 May 2008. 25 February 2022. Nicola Griffith.
  8. News: . 19 September 1993. Commitment - Griffith-Eskridge. L3. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ajc_commitment.
  9. Web site: Griffith. Nicola. 13 October 2008. Virgin birth (yes, really). 25 February 2022. Nicola Griffith. en.
  10. Web site: Nicola Griffith. 25 February 2022. Angela Ruskin University. en.
  11. Book: Booker . M. K. . The science fiction handbook . Thomas . Anne-Marie . 2009 . John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. . 9781405162050 . 151–152 . Nicola Griffith (1960-).
  12. Web site: 24 February 2014. About. 25 February 2022. Nicola Griffith. en.
  13. Web site: Griffith . Nicola . 4 July 2017 . The story of my PhD, Part 1: Opportunity . 25 February 2022 . Nicola Griffith . en.
  14. Web site: 1993 Award Winners & Nominees. 25 February 2022. Worlds Without End. en.
  15. Web site: Lothian. Alexis. 1 January 2020. Jeanne Gomoll Retires from Motherboard « Otherwise Award. 25 February 2022. Otherwise Award. en-US.
  16. Web site: Notkin. Debbie. 1993 Otherwise Award « Otherwise Award. 25 February 2022. Otherwise Award. 13 April 2017 . en-US.
  17. Web site: 14 July 1993. 5th Annual Lambda Literary Awards. 25 February 2022. Lambda Literary. en.
  18. Web site: Notkin. Debbie. 1993 Long List « Otherwise Award. 25 February 2022. Otherwise Award. 12 March 2010 . en-US.
  19. Web site: Arthur C. Clarke Award 1994. 25 February 2022. science fiction awards database.
  20. Web site: Locus Awards 1994. 25 February 2022. science fiction awards database.
  21. Web site: 1995 Nebula Awards®. 25 February 2022. Nebula Awards.
  22. Web site: 1996 Nebula Awards®. 25 February 2022. Nebula Awards.
  23. Web site: Gonzalez Cerna. Antonio. 15 July 1996. 8th Annual Lambda Literary Awards. 25 February 2022. Lambda Literary. en.
  24. Web site: Gonzalez Cerna. Antonio. 15 July 1998. 10th Annual Lambda Literary Awards. 25 February 2022. Lambda Literary. en.
  25. Web site: 1999 Awards . 27 February 2022 . Gaylactic Spectrum Awards . en-US.
  26. Web site: Gonzalez Cerna. Antonio. 15 July 1999. 11th Annual Lambda Literary Awards. 25 February 2022. Lambda Literary. en.
  27. Web site: 2000 Awards . 27 February 2022 . Gaylactic Spectrum Awards . en-US.
  28. Web site: 2002 Awards . 27 February 2022 . Gaylactic Spectrum Awards . en-US.
  29. Web site: Gonzalez Cerna. Antonio. 10 July 2002. 14th Annual Lambda Literary Awards. 25 February 2022. Lambda Literary. en.
  30. Web site: Gonzalez Cerna. Antonio. 10 July 2003. 15th Annual Lambda Literary Awards. 25 February 2022. Lambda Literary. en.
  31. Web site: 2005 Awards . 27 February 2022 . Gaylactic Spectrum Awards . en-US.
  32. Web site: Gonzalez Cerna. Antonio. 9 July 2005. 17th Annual Lambda Literary Awards. 25 February 2022. Lambda Literary. en.
  33. Web site: Gonzalez Cerna. Antonio. 30 April 2007. 20th Annual Lambda Literary Awards. 25 February 2022. Lambda Literary. en.
  34. Web site: 5 June 2008. 2008 Lambda Award Winners Announced. 25 February 2022. McNally Robinson Booksellers. en.
  35. Web site: 5 September 2010. 2010 Hugo Awards Winners. 25 February 2022. Locus Online. en-US.
  36. Web site: 4 June 2014. 2013 Bisexual Book Awards Winners. 25 February 2022. Locus Online. en-US.
  37. Web site: Notkin. Debbie. 31 October 2014. The 2013 Tiptree Award winner has been selected! « Otherwise Award. 25 February 2022. Otherwise Award. en-US.
  38. Web site: Notkin. Debbie. 2013 Honor List « Otherwise Award. 25 February 2022. Otherwise Award. 31 October 2014 . en-US.
  39. Web site: 2013 Nebula Awards®. 25 February 2022. Nebula Awards.
  40. Web site: 19 May 2014. 2013 John W. Campbell Memorial Award Finalists. 25 February 2022. Locus Online. en-US.
  41. Web site: 13 October 2014. Griffith Wins Washington State Book Award. 25 February 2022. Locus Online. en-US.
  42. Web site: Jarnagin. Briana. 30 January 2019. 2019 Over the Rainbow List released, over 100 fiction and non-fiction titles. 25 February 2022. News and Press Center. en.
  43. Web site: 14 December 2018. 2019 Tournament of Books Shortlist. 25 February 2022. Locus Online. en-US.
  44. Web site: 2019 Shortlist. 25 February 2022. Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association. en.
  45. Web site: The 2023 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction. 12 July 2023. The Ursula K. Le Guin Literary Trust. en.
  46. Web site: 16 April 2014 . Cold Wind .

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