Catherynne M. Valente

Her short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, the anthologies Salon Fantastique and Paper Cities, and numerous "Year's Best" volumes.

Valente studied at University of California, San Diego. The recorded working language is English. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are fantasy and science fiction. Distinctions recorded are Lambda Literary Award, Otherwise Award, Hugo Award for Best Fancast and Andre Norton Award.

• Name — Catherynne M. Valente • Born — 5 May 1979 • Birthplace — Seattle, Washington, U.S. • Occupation — * Poet • novelist • literary critic • Education — UC San Diego University of Edinburgh • Genre — Postmodern, fantasy, mythpunk • Awards — James Tiptree Jr. (2006) Million Writers Award (2007) Rhysling Award (2007) Mythopoeic Award (2008) Andre Norton Award (2009) Locus Award (2014) • Website — catherynnemvalente.com

Valente's 2009 book Palimpsest won the Lambda Award for LGBT Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror. Her two-volume series The Orphan's Tales won the 2008 Mythopoeic Award, and its first volume, The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden, won the 2006 James Tiptree Jr. Award and was nominated for the 2007 World Fantasy Award. In 2012, Valente won three Locus Awards: Best Novelette (White Lines on a Green Field), Best Novella (Silently and Very Fast) and Best YA Novel (The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making). In 2009, she donated her archive to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) Collection in the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University. She is a regular panelist on the podcast SF Squeecast.

Valente tours with singer/songwriter S. J. Tucker, who has composed albums based on Valente's work. The pair perform reading concerts featuring dancers, aerial artists, art auctions featuring jewelry and paintings based on the novels, and other performances. Valente is active in the crowdfunding movement of online artists. Her novel The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making was the first online, crowdfunded book to win a major literary award before traditional publication. In a 2006 blog post, Valente coined the term mythpunk as a joke for describing her own and other works of challenging folklore-based fantasy. Valente and other critics and writers have discussed mythpunk as a subgenre of mythic fiction that starts in folklore and myth and adds elements of postmodernist literary techniques.

In a 2025 interview published in Vector, Valente stated that she is queer and has ADHD.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

* *

# #

* * * * *

# #

# #

* *

• "The Oracle Alone" Music of a Proto-Suicide (2004) • "Ghosts of Gunkanjima" Papaveria Press (2005) • "The Maiden-Tree" Cabinet des Fees (2005) • "Bones Like Black Sugar" Fantasy Magazine (2005) • "Psalm of the Second Body" PEN Book of Voices (2005) • "Ascent Is Not Allowed" The Minotaur in Pamplona (2005) • "Thread: A Triptych" Lone Star Stories (2006) • "Urchins, While Swimming" Clarkesworld Magazine (2006) • "Milk and Apples" Electric Velocipede (2006) • "Temnaya and the House of Books" Mythic (2006) • "A Grey and Soundless Tide" Salon Fantastique (2006) • "A Dirge For Prester John" Interfictions (2007) • "The Ballad of the Sinister Mr. Mouth" Lone Star Stories (2007) • "La Serenissima" Endicott Studio (2007) • "The Proslogium of the Great Lakes" Farrago's Wainscot (2007) • "A Buyer's Guide to Maps of Antarctica" Clarkesworld Magazine (2008) • "Tales of Beaty and Strangeness: City of Blind Delights" Clockwork Phoenix (2008) • "The Hanged Man" Farrago's Wainscot (2008) • "An Anthology of Urban Fantasy: Palimpsest" Paper Cities, ed. Ekaterina Sedia (2008) • "The Harpooner at the Bottom of the World" Spectra Pulse (2008) • "Golubash, or, Wine-War-Blood-Elegy" Federations (2009) • "The Secret History of Mirrors" Clockwork Phoenix 2 (2009) • "A Book of Villainous Tales:A Delicate Architecture" Troll's Eye View (2009) • "The Radiant Car Thy Sparrows Drew" Clarkesworld Magazine (2009) • "The Anachronist's Cookbook" Steampunk Tales (2009) • "A Between Books Anthology: Proverbs of Hell" The Stories in Between (2010) • "The Days of Flaming Motorcycles" Dark Faith (2010) • "Secretario" Weird Tales (2010) • "Thirteen Ways of Looking at Space/Time" Clarkesworld Magazine (2010) • "How to Become a Mars Overlord" Lightspeed (2010) • "15 Panels Depicting the Sadness of the Baku and the Jotai" Haunted Legends (2010) • "In the Future When All's Well" Teeth (2011) • "A Voice Like a Hole" Welcome to Bordertown (2011) • "The Wolves of Brooklyn" Fantasy Magazine (2011) • "The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland—For a Little While" Tor.com (2011) • "White Lines on a Green Field" Subterranean Magazine (2011)

• Introduction to Jane Eyre (Illustrated) (2007) • "Regeneration X" in Chicks Dig Time Lords (2010) • Indistinguishable from Magic (2014)

• Nebula Awards Showcase 55 (2021)

* * * * * *

• Music of a Proto-Suicide (2004) • Apocrypha (2005) • Oracles: A Pilgrimage (2006) • The Descent of Inanna (2006) *

• Year — Work — Award — Category — Result — Ref Reference. • 2006 — James Tiptree Jr. Award — — • 2007 — Rhysling Award — Long Poem — Finalist • World Fantasy Award — Novel — Finalist • Million Writers Award — — • 2008 — Rhysling Award — Long Poem • Mythopoeic Award — Adult Literature • 2009 — World Fantasy Award — Short Fiction — Finalist • (with Amal El-Mohtar) — Rhysling Award — Long Poem — Finalist • Andre Norton Award — — • 2010 — Palimpsest — Hugo Award — Novel — Finalist • Lambda Literary Award — Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror • Locus Award — Fantasy Novel — Finalist • Mythopoeic Award — Adult Literature — Finalist • 2011 — Deathless — James Tiptree Jr. Award — — — Longlisted • Silently and Very Fast — Nebula Award — Novella — Finalist • Locus Award — Short Story — Finalist • 2012 — Locus Award — Short Story — Finalist • Deathless — Locus Award — Fantasy Novel — Finalist • Mythopoeic Awards — Adult Literature — Finalist • Nebula Award — Novelette — Finalist • Sidewise Award — Short Form — Finalist • Locus Award — Young Adult Book • Silently and Very Fast — Hugo Award — Novella — Finalist • Locus Award — Novella • Theodore Sturgeon Award — — — Finalist • World Fantasy Award — Novella — Finalist • Locus Award — Novelette • 2013 — Hugo Award — Novelette — Finalist • Locus Award — Young Adult Book — Finalist • Six-Gun Snow White — Nebula Award — Novella — Finalist • 2014 — Locus Award — Collection — Finalist • Locus Award — Young Adult Book • Six-Gun Snow White — Hugo Award — Novella — Finalist • Locus Award — Novella • World Fantasy Award — Novella — Finalist • 2015 — Radiance — James Tiptree Jr. Award — — — Honor List • 2016 — Eugie Award — — • 2017 — Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire — Foreign Young Adult Novel • (novelette) — Locus Award — Novelette — Finalist • Theodore Sturgeon Award — — • Eugie Award — — — Finalist • 2018 — Locus Award — Collection — Finalist • 2019 — (collection) — British Fantasy Award — Collection — Finalist • Locus Award — Collection — Finalist • Space Opera — Campbell Memorial Award — Science Fiction Novel — Finalist • Hugo Award — Novel — Finalist • Locus Award — Science Fiction Novel — Finalist • 2021 — Comfort Me with Apples — Shirley Jackson Award — Novella — Finalist • 2022 — Locus Award — Novella — Finalist • Hugo Award — Novella — Finalist • Locus Award — Novella — Finalist • Ursula K. Le Guin Prize — — — Finalist • Eugie Award — — — Finalist • Hugo Award — Novelette — Finalist • Locus Award — Novelette — Finalist • "The Sin of America" — Hugo Award — Short Story — Finalist • Locus Award — Short Story — Finalist • 2023 — Hugo Award — Novelette — Finalist • Locus Award — Novelette — Finalist • Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods — Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book — — — Finalist • 2024 — Locus Award — Collection — Finalist • 2025 — Space Oddity — Locus Award — Science Fiction Novel — Finalist • Space Opera — Seiun Award — Translated Novel — Finalist • 2026 — Hugo Award — Novelette — Finalist • Locus Award — Novelette — Finalist

• Year — Work — Award — Category — Result — Ref Reference. • 2012 — Apex Magazine (with Lynne M. Thomas and Jason Sizemore) — Hugo Award — Semiprozine — Finalist • SF Squeecast (with Lynne M. Thomas, Seanan McGuire, Paul Cornell, and Elizabeth Bear) — Hugo Award — Fancast • 2013 — SF Squeecast (with Lynne M. Thomas, Seanan McGuire, Paul Cornell, and Elizabeth Bear) — Hugo Award — Fancast