Jo Walton (born 1964) is a Welsh and Canadian fantasy and science fiction writer and poet. She is best known for the fantasy novel ''

Among Others ''Among Others'' is a 2011 fantasy novel written by Welsh-Canadian writer Jo Walton, published originally by Tor Books. It is published in the UK by Corsair (Constable & Robinson). It won the 2012 Nebula Award for Best Novel, the Hugo Award for ...

'', which won the Hugo and

Nebula Awards The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of profe ...

in 2012, and '' Tooth and Claw'', a

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

novel with dragons which won the

World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year at the eponymous ann ...

in 2004. Other works by Walton include the ''Small Change'' series, in which she blends alternate history with the cozy mystery genre, comprising '' Farthing'', '' Ha'penny'' and '' Half a Crown''. Her fantasy novel '' Lifelode'' won the 2010

Mythopoeic Award The Mythopoeic Awards for literature and literary studies are given annually for outstanding works in the fields of myth, fantasy, and the scholarly study of these areas. Established by the Mythopoeic Society in 1971, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Awa ...

, and her alternate history '' My Real Children'' received the 2015 Tiptree Award. Walton is also known for her non-fiction, including book reviews and SF commentary in the magazine ''

Tor.com ''Tor.com'' is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on speculative fiction. From 20 ...

''. A collection of her articles were published in ''What Makes This Book So Great'' (2014), which won the

Locus Award The Locus Awards are an annual set of literary awards voted on by readers of the science fiction and fantasy magazine ''Locus'', a monthly magazine based in Oakland, California. The awards are presented at an annual banquet. In addition to the pl ...

for Best Non-Fiction.

Background

Walton was born in 1964 in Aberdare, a town in the

Cynon Valley Cynon Valley () is a former coal mining valley in Wales. Cynon Valley lies between Rhondda and the Merthyr Valley and takes its name from the River Cynon. Aberdare is located in the north of the valley and Mountain Ash is in the south of th ...

of Wales.Jo Walton's Among Others: 'It's a mythologisation of part of my life'
at

the Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

; by David Barnett; published 2 October 2012. Retrieved 4 November 2013 She went to Park School in Aberdare, then Aberdare Girls' Grammar School. She lived for a year in Cardiff, went to Howell's School Llandaff and finished her education at Oswestry School in Shropshire and at the

University of Lancaster , mottoeng = Truth lies open to all , established = , endowment = £13.9 million , budget = £317.9 million , type = Public , city = Bailrigg, City of Lancaster , country = England , coor = , campus = Bailrigg , faculty = ...

. She lived in London for two years and lived in Lancaster until 1997. She then moved to Swansea, where she lived until she moved to Canada in 2002. Walton is Welsh-Canadian. Walton speaks Welsh: "It's the second language of my family of origin, my grandmother was a well known Welsh scholar and translator, I studied it in school from five to sixteen, I have a ten year old's fluency on grammar and vocab but no problem whatsoever with pronunciation."

Writing career

Walton has been writing since she was 13, but her first novel was not published until 2000. Before that, she had been published in a number of role-playing game publications, such as ''

Pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

'', mostly in collaboration with her husband at the time, Ken Walton, co-founder of the Cakebread & Walton games company. Walton was also active in online

science fiction fandom Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or fandom of people interested in science fiction in contact with one another based upon that interest. SF fandom has a life of its own, but not much in the way of formal organization (although ...

, especially in the

Usenet Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it wa ...

groups ''rec.arts.sf.written'' and ''rec.arts.sf.fandom''. Her poem "The Lurkers Support Me in E-Mail" is widely quoted on it and in other online arguments, often without her name attached. Walton's first three novels, ''

The King's Peace The King's Peace (387 BC) was a peace treaty guaranteed by the Persian King Artaxerxes II that ended the Corinthian War in ancient Greece. The treaty is also known as the Peace of Antalcidas, after Antalcidas, the Spartan diplomat who traveled ...

'' (2000), '' The King's Name'' (2001), and '' The Prize in the Game'' (2002) were all fantasy and set in the same world, which is based on

Arthurian King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...

Britain and the

Táin Bó Cúailnge (Modern ; "the driving-off of the cows of Cooley"), commonly known as ''The Táin'' or less commonly as ''The Cattle Raid of Cooley'', is an epic from Irish mythology. It is often called "The Irish Iliad", although like most other early Iri ...

's Ireland. She won the

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer The ''Astounding'' Award for Best New Writer (formerly the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer) is given annually to the best new writer whose first professional work of science fiction or fantasy was published within the two previous ...

in 2002. Her next novel, '' Tooth and Claw'' (2003) was intended as a novel Anthony Trollope could have written, but about dragons rather than humans. '' Farthing'' was her first science fiction novel, placing the genre of the cozy mystery firmly inside an

alternative history Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, alte ...

in which the United Kingdom made peace with

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

before the involvement of the United States in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. It was nominated for a Nebula Award, a Quill Award, the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science fiction novel, and the

Sidewise Award for Alternate History The Sidewise Awards for Alternate History were established in 1995 to recognize the best alternate history stories and novels of the year. Overview The awards take their name from the 1934 short story " Sidewise in Time" by Murray Leinster, in ...

. A sequel, '' Ha'penny'', was published in October 2007 by

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese sci ...

, with the final book in the trilogy, '' Half a Crown,'' published in September 2008. ''Ha'penny'' won the 2008

Prometheus Award The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction novels given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society. American author and activist L. Neil Smith established the award in 1979, but it was not awarded regularly until the newl ...

(jointly with

Harry Turtledove Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14, 1949) is an American author who is best known for his work in the genres of alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery fiction. He is a student of history and completed hi ...

's novel ''The Gladiator'') and has been nominated for the

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature.The awards were instituted i ...

. In April 2007, Howard V. Hendrix stated that professional writers should never release their writings online for free, as this made them equivalent to scabs.Hendrix's "webscabs" post on LiveJournal
, April 2007 Walton responded to this by declaring 23 April as International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day, a day in which writers who disagreed with Hendrix could release their stories online en masse. In 2008 Walton celebrated this day by posting several chapters of an unfinished sequel to ''Tooth and Claw'', ''Those Who Favor Fire.'' In 2008, Walton began writing an online column for

, mostly retrospective reviews of older books. A collection of these blog posts were published in ''What Makes This Book So Great'' (2014). She also wrote a series of articles revisiting the Hugo award nominees for each year from 1953 to 2000, which were later collected as ''

An Informal History of the Hugos ''An Informal History of the Hugos'' (subtitled ''A Personal Look Back at the Hugo Awards, 1953–2000'' is a 2018 reference work on science fiction and fantasy written by Jo Walton. In it, she asks if the nominees for the Hugo Award for Best ...

'' (2018). Her book, ''

'' (2012), won several awards, including both the

Hugo Award for Best Novel The Hugo Award for Best Novel is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published in, or translated to, English during the previous calendar year. The novel award is available for works of fiction of 40,000 ...

and

Nebula Award for Best Novel The Nebula Award for Best Novel is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy novels. A work of fiction is considered a novel by the organization if it is 40,000 words or longer; a ...

. Her recent works include the alternate history '' My Real Children'' (2014), which won the Tiptree Award; the ''

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...

'' trilogy (2015–16), a science fiction/fantasy series involving the Greek Gods and a re-imagining of Plato's ''Republic''; and the historical fantasy ''

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

'' (2019), set in renaissance Italy. Her 2020 novel ''

Or What You Will ''Or What You Will'' is a 2020 metafictional fantasy novel by Jo Walton, about immortality and creativity. It was first published by Tor Books. Synopsis As fantasy author Sylvia Harrison nears the end of her life, her imaginary friend — a ...

'' is a meta-fictional novel about immortality and creativity, featuring an ageing fantasy novelist writing a book set in renaissance Florence. In February 2018, Walton was the Literary/Fan Guest of Honor and Keynote Speaker at the 36th annual

Life, the Universe, & Everything ''Life, the Universe, & Everything: The Marion K. "Doc" Smith Symposium on Science Fiction and Fantasy'' is an academic conference held annually since 1983 in Provo, Utah. It is the longest-running science fiction and fantasy convention in Utah, ...

professional science fiction and fantasy arts symposium. In November 2022, Walton released her original audio drama ''Heart's Home'', based on a Welsh folk tale, with Odyssey Theatre as part of '' The Other Path'' podcast.

Awards

Personal life

Walton moved to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

, Quebec, Canada, after her first novel was published. She is married to Emmet A. O'Brien. She has one child, a son, Alexander, born 1990.

Bibliography

Novels

* '' Tooth and Claw'' (November 2003, Tor Books, ) Won the

. * '' Lifelode'' (February 2009,

NESFA Press NESFA Press is the publishing arm of the New England Science Fiction Association, Inc. The NESFA Press primarily produces three types of books: * Books honoring the guest(s) of honor at their annual convention, Boskone, and at some Worldcons and ...

, ) * ''

'' (January 2011, Tor Books );

2011,

2012,

nominee * '' My Real Children'' (May 2014, Tor Books, ); Tiptree Award 2014,

nominee,The 2015 World Fantasy Award Nominees Have Been Announced!
at

; published 8 July 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2015

Aurora Award The Aurora Awards (french: Prix Aurora-Boréal) are a set of primarily literary awards given annually for the best Canadian science fiction or fantasy professional and fan works and achievements from the previous year."Literary glow of Auroras lure ...

nominee2015 Aurora Awards Nominees
at ''

Locus Online ''Locus: The Magazine of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field'', founded in 1968, is an American magazine published monthly in Oakland, California. It is the news organ and trade journal for the English-language science fiction and fantasy fields ...

''; published 26 May 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015 * ''

'' (May 2019, Tor Books, ) * ''

'' (July 2020, Tor Books, ) ;Sulien series * ''

'' (2000, Tor Books) * '' The King's Name'' (December 2001, Tor Books, ) * '' The Prize in the Game'' (December 2002, Tor Books, ) ;Small Change trilogy * '' Farthing'' (August 2006, Tor Books, ) * '' Ha'penny'' (October 2007, Tor Books, ) * '' Half a Crown'' (August 2008, Tor Books, ) ;Thessaly trilogy * '' The Just City'' (January 2015, Tor Books, ) * '' The Philosopher Kings'' (June 2015, Tor Books, ) * '' Necessity'' (July 2016, Tor Books, )

Other works

* '' GURPS Celtic Myth'' (with Ken Walton) (1995, roleplaying supplement) * ''The End of the World in Duxford'' (1997), a poem inspired by Larry Niven's short story Inconstant Moon * ''Muses and Lurkers'' (2001, poetry chapbook, edited by Eleanor Evans) * ''Realms of Sorcery'' (with Ken Walton) (2001, roleplaying supplement for Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play) * ''Sybils and Spaceships'', poetry chapbook (2009, NESFA Press) * ''What Makes This Book So Great,'' collected essays and book reviews (2014,

, ) * ''Starlings'', short story and poetry collection (2018,

Tachyon Publications Tachyon Publications is an independent press specializing in science fiction and fantasy books. Founded in San Francisco in 1995 by Jacob Weisman, Tachyon books have tended toward high-end literary works, short story collections, and anthologies ...

) * ''

'', collected essays and book reviews (2018,

)

Short stories

* "Sleeper" (2014,

)
"Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction"
(2009,

) * "The Jump Rope Rhyme" (2017,

) * "A Burden Shared" (2017,

)

Essays

* "Story behind ''Ha'Penny'' by Jo Walton" (2013), from ''Story Behind the Book : Volume 1''''Story Behind the Book : Volume 1 – Essays on Writing Speculative Fiction''

References

External links

*
Jo Walton's LiveJournal
(deleted 10 April 2017; see Walton's note a

Jo Walton's page at Tor.com
with links to her reviews
Searchable Index of Jo Walton's Tor.com posts
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walton, Jo 1964 births Living people 21st-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Welsh women writers 21st-century Welsh novelists 21st-century Welsh women writers Alumni of Lancaster University Anglo-Welsh novelists British alternative history writers British science fiction writers British women bloggers Canadian alternative history writers Canadian fantasy writers Canadian science fiction writers Canadian women bloggers Canadian women novelists Chapbook writers Hugo Award-winning writers John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer winners Nebula Award winners People educated at Howell's School Llandaff People educated at Oswestry School People from Aberdare Science fiction fans Usenet people Welsh bloggers Welsh emigrants to Canada Welsh fantasy writers Welsh science fiction writers Welsh women novelists Women historical novelists Women science fiction and fantasy writers World Fantasy Award-winning writers Writers of modern Arthurian fiction