Tuesday, December 31, 1996

1996 Mythopoeic Award Nominees

Location: Unknown.

Comments: Another year, another set of nominees in the Inklings Studies category that focus exclusively on Tolkien and Lewis. As a counterweight to this predictability, the two fantasy literature categories included both books by fantasy fiction royalty like Patricia A. McKillip, Diana Wynne Jones, and Susan Cooper and relative newcomers like Sylvia Waugh and Sherwood Smith as well as a work by Kenneth Morris, an author who died in 1937. This variety, much more so than the hidebound obsession over two authors displayed in the Inklings Studies category, is what makes the Mythopoeic Awards interesting and keeps them fresh. Endless rehashing of the works of a single author, or a pair of authors, is a dead end path that leads to a moribund award, and the sooner the Mythopoeic Society realizes this, the better.

Best Adult Fantasy Literature

Winner:
Waking the Moon (Revised) by Elizabeth Hand

Other Nominees:
All the Bells on Earth by James P. Blaylock
The Book of Atrix Wolfe by Patricia A. McKillip
Brittle Innings by Michael Bishop
The Dragon Path by Kenneth Morris

Best Children's Fantasy Literature

Winner:
The Crown of Dalemark by Diana Wynne Jones

Other Nominees:
The Boggart by Susan Cooper
Falcon's Egg by Luli Gray
The Mennyms by Sylvia Waugh
Wren's War by Sherwood Smith

Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies

Winner:
J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull

Other Nominees:
C.S. Lewis: A Reference Guide, 1927-1988 by Susan Lowenberg
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Patterning of a Fantastic World by Colin Manlove
The Fiction of C.S. Lewis: Mask and Mirror by Kath Filmer
The Hobbit: A Journey into Maturity by William H. Green

Myth and Fantasy Studies

Winner:
From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers by Marina Warner

Other Nominees:
The Seed and the Vision: On the Writing and Appreciation of Children's Books by Eleanor Cameron
T.H. White's The Once and Future King by Elisabeth Brewer
When Toys Come Alive: Narratives of Animation, Metamorphosis, and Development by Lois Rostow Kuznets

Go to previous year's nominees: 1995
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 1997

Book Award Reviews     Home

No comments:

Post a Comment