Frances Hardinge (born 1973) is a British children's writer. Her

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to ...

, '' Fly By Night'', won the 2006

Branford Boase Award The Branford Boase Award is a British literary award presented annually to an outstanding children's or young-adult novel by a first-time writer; "the most promising book for seven year-olds and upwards by a first time novelist." The award is sh ...

and was listed as one of the ''

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with ...

'' Best Books. Her 2015 novel ''

The Lie Tree ''The Lie Tree'' is the seventh children's fantasy novel by Frances Hardinge, published in 2015 by Macmillan Publishers. The book won the 2015 Costa Book of the Year. Synopsis ''The Lie Tree'' is set in the male-dominated Victorian scientif ...

'' won the 2015 Costa Book Award, the first children's book to do so since

Philip Pullman Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman (born 19 October 1946) is an English writer. His books include the fantasy trilogy '' His Dark Materials'' and ''The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ'', a fictionalised biography of Jesus. In 2008, ''Th ...

's '' The Amber Spyglass'' in 2001. She has also been shortlisted for and received a number of other awards for both her novels as well as some of her short stories.

Biography

Hardinge was born in Brighton, England, and dreamed of writing at the age of four. She studied English at

Somerville College Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, ...

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

and was the founder member of a writers' workshop there. Her writing career started after she won a short story magazine competition. Shortly after winning she wrote ''Fly By Night'' in her spare time and showed it to

Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publ ...

after pressure from a friend. Hardinge is often seen wearing a black hat and enjoys dressing in old-fashioned clothing.

Awards and honours

*2006:

, winner, ''Fly by Night'' *2011:

Guardian Award The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize or Guardian Award was a literary award that annual recognised one fiction book written for children or young adults (at least age eight) and published in the United Kingdom. It was conferred upon the author ...

, short-list, ''Twilight Robbery'' *2012:

Kitschies The Kitschies are British literary prizes presented annually for "the year's most progressive, intelligent and entertaining works that contain elements of the speculative or fantastic" published in the United Kingdom. Awards and criteria The Kit ...

, short-list, ''A Face Like Glass'' *2015: Carnegie Medal, short-list, ''Cuckoo Song'' *2015:

Costa Book Awards The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

, winner, children's, ''The Lie Tree'' *2015:

, winner, Book of the Year, ''The Lie Tree'' *2015: Robert Holdstock Award, winner, best fantasy novel, ''Cuckoo Song'' *2016: Carnegie Medal, short-list, ''The Lie Tree'' *2016: Boston Globe-Horn Book award, winner, ''The Lie Tree''

Works

Novels

* '' Fly By Night'' (2005) * '' Verdigris Deep'' (2007); US title, ''Well Witched'' * '' Gullstruck Island'' (2009); US title, ''The Lost Conspiracy'' * '' Twilight Robbery'' (2011); US title, ''Fly Trap'' – sequel to ''Fly by Night'' * '' A Face Like Glass'' (2012) * '' Cuckoo Song'' (2014) * ''

'' (2015) * '' A Skinful of Shadows'' (September 2017) * '' Deeplight'' (October 2019) * ''Unraveller'' (September 2022)

Short fiction

Hardinge has written several short stories published in magazines and anthologies. * "Shining Man", ''The Dream Zone'' 8 (Jan 2001) * "Communion", ''Wordplay'' 1 (Spring 2002) * "Captive Audience", ''Piffle'' 7 (Oct 2002) * "Bengal Rose", ''Scribble'' 20 (Spring 2003) * "Black Grass", ''All Hallows 43'' (Summer 2007) * "Halfway House", ''Alchemy'' 3 (Jan 2006) * "Behind The Mirror", serialised in '' First News'' (2007) * "Payment Due", in ''Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron'', ed.

Jonathan Strahan Jonathan Strahan (born 1964, Belfast, Northern Ireland) is an editor and publisher of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. His family moved to Perth, Western Australia in 1968, and he graduated from the University of Western Australia with a ...

(Random House, 2012) * "Flawless", in ''Twisted Winter'', ed. Catherine Butler (Black, 2013) * "Hayfever", ''Subterranean'', Winter 2014 (Dec 2013) * "Blind Eye", ''The Outcast Hours'', ed. Mahvesh Murad and Jared Shurin (Solaris, 2019) * "God's Eye", i
Mystery & Mayhem
(

Egmont Publishing The Egmont Group (formerly The Gutenberghus Group) is a Danish media corporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark. The business area of Egmont has traditionally been magazine publishing but has over the years evolved to comprise mass me ...

, 2016)

References

External links

*
Fly by Night, Blog by Day
— Tour blog * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hardinge, Frances 1973 births Living people English children's writers English fantasy writers Dark fantasy writers Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford British women novelists