Edward Frederick James (born 14 May 1947) is a British scholar of medieval history and science fiction. He is Emeritus Professor of Medieval History at

University College, Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

. James received the

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier ...

for his non-fiction book ''The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction'' (co-edited with Farah Mendlesohn), and the Pilgrim Award for lifetime contribution to SF and fantasy scholarship.

Biography

James was born in

Solihull Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blyth ...

, Warwickshire. He attended the

Solihull School Solihull School is a coeducational independent day school in Solihull, West Midlands, England. Founded in 1560, it is the oldest school in the town and is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. History In 1560 th ...

and read Modern History at

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pr ...

(1965-1968). He completed postgraduate work at the Institute of Archaeology, Oxford, 1968-1970, supervised by Professor

Christopher Hawkes Charles Francis Christopher Hawkes, FBA, FSA (5 June 1905 – 29 March 1992) was an English archaeologist specialising in European prehistory. He was Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford from 1946 to 1972. He was e ...

. James was awarded D.Phil in 1975, for a thesis entitled ‘South-West Gaul from the fifth to the eighth century: the contribution of archaeology’. He began teaching in 1970 at

. He was a lecturer at the Department of Medieval History in University College Dublin from 1970 to 1978. He was a lecturer in early medieval history at the Department of History,

University of York The University of York (abbreviated as or ''York'' for post-nominals) is a collegiate research university, located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, co ...

, 1978 to 1995, as well as Director of the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York from 1990 to 1995. He was Professor of Medieval History at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

from 1995 to 2004 and was a Director of the Graduate Centre for Medieval Studies, 1999–2001. He retired in 2012.

Recognition

James is the recipient of the 2004 Pilgrim Award for lifetime contribution to science fiction and fantasy scholarship. He has also won the

Hugo Award for Best Related Work The Hugo Award for Best Related Work is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for primarily non-fiction works related to science fiction or fantasy, published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The Hugo Awards have bee ...

and a

BSFA Award for Best Non-Fiction The BSFA Awards are given every year by the British Science Fiction Association. The Best Non-Fiction award is open to any written work about science fiction or fantasy which appeared in its current form in the previous year. Whole collections of ...

, in addition to multiple nominations for individual works.

Personal life

James married his fellow academic, Farah Mendlesohn in 2001.

Selected works

* ''Visigothic Spain: New Approaches''. Edited by James. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1980. () * ''The Origins of France: From Clovis to the Capetians, 500–1000''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1982. . * ''The Franks''. Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1988. . * ''The Profession of Science Fiction: SF Writers on their Craft and Ideas''. Edited by

Maxim Jakubowski Maxim Jakubowski (born 1944) is a crime, erotic, science fiction and rock music writer and critic. Jakubowski was born in 1944 in England to Russian-British and Polish parents, but raised in France. Jakubowski has also lived in Italy and has tr ...

and James; foreword by

Arthur C. Clarke Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science-fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A Spac ...

. Insights series. Macmillan UK, 1992. ."Bibliography: The Profession of Science Fiction"
(1992 book). ISFDB. Retrieved 2015-03-26. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. (. * ''Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. ) * ''The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction''. Edited by James and Farah Mendlesohn. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2003. . * ''Britain in the First Millennium''. London: Oxford University Press, 2001. . * ''Europe's Barbarians, AD 200–600''. Harlow, England: Pearson Longman, 2009. . * ''A Short History of Fantasy''. Farah Mendlesohn and James. London: Middlesex University Press, 2009. . * ''The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature''. Edited by James and Farah Mendlesohn. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2012. .

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:James, Edward 1947 births British medievalists British literary critics Science fiction academics Hugo Award-winning editors Academics of University College Dublin Alumni of the University of Oxford Academics of the University of York Academics of the University of Reading Living people Male speculative fiction editors