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Catherine Fisher

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other people named Catherine Fisher, see Catherine Fisher (disambiguation).
Catherine Fisher
Born1957 (age 66–67)
Newport, Wales
OccupationAuthor
NationalityWelsh
Period1990-present
GenreYoung adult, science-fiction, fantasy
Website
catherine-fisher.com

Catherine Fisher (born 1957) is a poet and novelist for children and Young Adults. Best known for her internationally bestselling novel Incarceron and its sequel, Sapphique, she has published over 40 novels and 5 volumes of poetry. She has worked as an archaeologist, and as a school and university teacher, is an experienced broadcaster and adjudicator and has taught at the Arvon Foundation and Ty Newydd Writers' Centres. She lives in Wales, UK.[1]

Personal life

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Fisher was born in Newport, Gwent, Wales. She graduated from the University of Wales with a degree in English Literature and Education.[1]

Work experience

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Catherine Fisher has worked as a primary-school teacher and as an archaeologist. She also taught writing for children at the University of South Wales. She has been a full-time writer of fiction and poetry since 2002.[1]

Writing

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Since the late 1980s, Fisher has been writing children's fantasy, both Young Adult and Middle Grade. These novels have been translated into over 30 languages, and many of her works have won or been shortlisted for literary awards.[2] She has twice won the Welsh Books Council Tir na n'Og prize for fiction in English, with The Candle Man (2000) and The Clockwork Crow (2015). Her young adult fantasies Incarceron and Sapphique were New York Times bestsellers and Times Book of the Year. The Oracle, the first volume of a trilogy mixing Egyptian and Greek myth, was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize. The Clockwork Crow, first of an acclaimed trilogy for middle grade, an enchanting reworking of Welsh fairylore and Victorian Gothic, was shortlisted for the Blue Peter Prize. Fisher's work mixes myth, legend and folktale, with vibrant characters and language that is precise and evocative. She has written several well-received re-tellings of Welsh myth and legend, including The Cat With Iron Claws, and Culhwch and Olwen.

In addition to her writing for children, Fisher has published four poetry collections with Seren Books: Immrama (1988), The Unexplored Ocean (c. 1994), Altered States (1999) and The Bramble King (2019).[3] She has also published a pamphlet, Folklore (2003), with Smith/Doorstop Books, and many poems in magazines and anthologies, including Poetry Wales, Poetry Now, The Poetry Review and the Forward Book of Poetry.[4] The collection Immrama won the Welsh Arts Council Young Writers' Prize in 1989. She won the Cardiff International Poetry Competition in the same year with her poem 'Marginalia'.

Awards and honors

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Awards for Fisher's writing
Year Title Award Result Ref.
1996 The Candle Man Tir na n-Og Award for Best English-Language Book Winner [5]
2003 The Oracle Whitbread Children's Book Award Shortlist [6]
2003 The Oracle Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers Nominee [7]
2007 Corbenic Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature Winner [8]
2011 Incarceron Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature Finalist [9]
2019 The Clockwork Crow Blue Peter Book Award Nominee [10]
2019 The Clockwork Crow Tir na n-Og Award for Best English-Language Book Winner [11]

Publications

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Poetry

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  • Immrama (1988) Seren Books ISBN 1854110039
  • The Unexplored Ocean (1994)Seren Books ISBN 185411106X
  • Altered States (1999) Seren Books ISBN 1854112732
  • Folklore (2003) Smith/Doorstop Books ISBN 1902382501
  • The Bramble King (2019) Seren Books. ISBN 9781781725078

Prose

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Standalone books

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The Conjuror's Game (1991) Red Fox ISBN 0099859602
Fintan's Tower (1992) Red Fox ISBN 0099935201
The Candle Man (1994) Red Fox ISBN 0099301393.
  • The Hare And Other Stories (1994) Pont books
  • Belin's Hill (1997) The Bodley Head ISBN 0370322711
Belin's Hill (1997) Red Fox ISBN 0099539810

The Snow-Walker trilogy

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The Book of the Crow series

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(US title: Relic Master series)

The Oracle trilogy

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  • The Oracle Hodder Childrens 2003 ISBN 0340843764 ' (US title: The Oracle Betrayed Greenwillow Books, 2003)
  • The Archon Hodder Childrens 2004 ISBN 0340843772 (US title: The Sphere of Secrets Greenwillow Books, 2004)
  • The Scarab Hodder Childrens 2005 ISBN 0340878940(US title: Day of the Scarab, Greenwillow Books 2005)

Incarceron series

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Chronoptika series

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  • Obsidian Mirror (2012) Hodder Childrens ISBN 9780340970089 US Dial Penguin
  • The Box of Red Brocade (2013) Hodder Childrens ISBN 9781444912630 (US title: Slanted Worlds, 2013 Dial Penguin).
  • The Door in the Moon (2015) Hodder Childrens ISBN 9781444912647 (2016 US Dial Penguin)
  • The Speed of Darkness (2016) Hodder Childrens ISBN 9781444912647

The Clockwork Crow series

  • The Clockwork Crow (2018) Firefly Press ISBN 978-1-910080-84-9
  • The Velvet Fox (2019) Firefly Press ISBN 978-1-913102-08-1
  • The Midnight Swan (2020) Firefly Press ISBN 978-1-913102-37-1
  • Re-tellings.
  • The Magic Thief (2010) Barrington Stoke.ISBN 9781842998212
  • The Cat with Iron Claws. (2012) Pont Books. ISBN 9781848513174
  • Culhwch and Olwen (2024) Graffeg Press ISBN 9781802586459

Short Stories.

The Red Gloves and Other Stories (2021) Firefly Press. ISBN 9781913102685

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Catherine Fisher - author, writer, novelist, UK - about". Catherine Fisher. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  2. ^ gwecambrianweb (16 May 2019). "Catherine Fisher wins the Tir na n-Og children's literature award with The Clockwork Crow | Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru". Retrieved 26 October 2024.
  3. ^ Dates from British Library catalogue.
  4. ^ Dates from British Library catalogue.
  5. ^ "Tir Na N-og Awards". Welsh Books Council . Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  6. ^ "Past Winners" (PDF). Costa Book Awards. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 December 2009. Retrieved 7 February 2022.
  7. ^ "Past Award Nominees and Winners". Horror Writers Association. 15 June 2000. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  8. ^ "Mythopoeic Awards 2007". The Mythopoeic Society. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  9. ^ "Middle Earth, medievalism and mythopoeic fantasy", Children's Fantasy Literature, Cambridge University Press, pp. 133–160, 31 January 2016, retrieved 2 August 2024
  10. ^ "WHAT'S ON: Shortlist for book awards announced and includes Newport author". South Wales Argus. 8 November 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
  11. ^ "Catherine Fisher wins the Tir na n-Og children's literature award with The Clockwork Crow" Welsh Books Council. 16 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
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