Comments: As usual, the fiction categories for the Mythopoeic Award are full of good books - most notably Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal and Kingfisher by Patricia A. McKillip. Once again the Myth and Fantasy Studies category looks to be populated by a collection of interesting books on a wide range of topics. And once again, the Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies feels cramped and limited - to such an extent that J.R.R. Tolkien's own translation of Beowulf was nominated in this category for the third year in a row.
I know that the Mythopoeic Society exists in large part to promote awareness of the works of the Inklings, and that promoting works of scholarship about the Inklings is seen as integral to that objective. The only problem is that year after year the nominees for the Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies show that there really doesn't seem to be sufficient depth to support such an award. Maybe there is some vast reservoir of books about the inklings out there that aren't apparent to most people, but based on the nominations in this category, I rather doubt it. It seems to me that the Mythopoeic Society would probably do best to fold the Inklings Studies category together with the Myth and Fantasy Studies category and strengthen the field of both, but I doubt they will, which is kind of a pity.
Best Adult Fantasy Literature
Kingfisher by Patricia A. McKillip
Other Nominees:
Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal
The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater
Thessaly Trilogy by Jo Walton
Will Do Magic For Small Change by Andrea Hairston
Best Children's Fantasy Literature
The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz
Other Nominees:
The Evil Wizard Smallbone by Delia Sherman
The Mapmakers Trilogy by S.E. Grove
The Rat Prince by Bridget Hodder
When the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin
Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies
The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams by Philip Zaleski and Carol Zaleski
Other Nominees:
Approaches to Teaching Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Other Works edited by Leslie Donovan
Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary, together with Sellic Spell by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien
The Chapel of the Thorn, Charles Williams edited by Sørina Higgins
Tolkien’s Theology of Beauty: Majesty, Splendor, and Transcendence in Middle Earth by Lisa Coutras
Myth and Fantasy Studies
Elf Queens and Holy Friars: Fairy Beliefs and the Medieval Church by Richard Firth Green
Other Nominees:
Children’s Fantasy Literature: An Introduction by Michael Levy and Farah Mendlesohn
Grimm Legacies: The Magic Spell of the Grimms’ Folk and Fairy Tales by Jack Zipes
Otherworlds: Fantasy and History in Medieval Literature by Aisling Byrne
The Tropes of Fantasy Fiction by Gabrielle Lissauer
Go to previous year's nominees: 2016
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2018
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