Monday, August 6, 2012

2012 Mythopoeic Award Nominees

Location: Mythcon 43 in Berkeley, California.

Comments: In 2012 Catherynne M. Valentine pulled off the fairly impressive accomplishment of having a book nominated in both the Adult Fantasy Literature and Children's Fantasy Literature categories. Valente's individual accomplishment also serves to highlight the fact that in recent year fantasy literature has been pretty much dominated by female authors. Women seem to make up the majority of authors producing adult fantasy literature, but they have absolutely dominated young adult fantasy literature. I'm not entirely sure what this indicates about the book publishing industry other than we are lucky to have such a broad base of prolific female fantasy authors, although the fact that young adult fiction appears to have been cordoned off as a space to relegate female authors into seems to me to be somewhat troubling.

Best Adult Fantasy Literature

Winner:
The Uncertain Places by Lisa Goldstein

Other Nominees:
Among Others by Jo Walton
Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente
The Heavenly Fox by Richard Parks
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Best Children's Fantasy Literature

Winner:
The Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman

Other Nominees:
Beka Cooper trilogy (Terrier, Bloodhound, and Mastiff) by Tamora Pierce
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Théâtre Illuminata series (Eyes Like Stars, Perchance to Dream, and So Silver Bright) by Lisa Mantchev

Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies

Winner:
Tolkien and Wales: Language, Literature and Identity by Carl Phelpstead

Other Nominees:
The Art of the Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull
C.S. Lewis on the Final Frontier: Science and the Supernatural in the Space Trilogy by Sanford Schwartz
The Power of Tolkien's Prose: Middle-earth's Magical Style by Steve Walker
Tolkien and the Study of His Sources: Critical Essays by Jason Fisher

Myth and Fantasy Studies

Winner:
The Enchanted Screen: The Unknown History of Fairy-Tale Films by Jack Zipes

Other Nominees:
Cheek by Jowl: Essays by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Christian Goddess: Archetype and Theology in the Fantasies of George MacDonald by Bonnie Gaarden
Fairy Tales: A New History by Ruth B. Bottigheimer
The Fantastic Horizon: Essays and Reviews by Darrell Schweitzer

Go to previous year's nominees: 2011
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2013

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