Jo Walton (born 1964) is a Welsh-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 B ...

'', 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 Association (SFWA), a nonprofit association of pro ...

in 2012, and '' Tooth and Claw'', a Victorian-era 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 Alternate history (also referred to as alternative history, allohistory, althist, or simply A.H.) is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As ...

with the

cozy mystery Cozy mysteries (also referred to as cozies) are a sub-genre of crime fiction in which sex and violence occur offstage, the detective is an amateur sleuth, and the crime and detection take place in a small socially-intimate community. Cozies thus s ...

genre, comprising ''

Farthing Farthing or farthings may refer to: Coinage *Farthing (British coin), an old British coin valued one quarter of a penny ** Half farthing (British coin) ** Third farthing (British coin) ** Quarter farthing (British coin) *Farthing (English c ...

'', '' Ha'penny'' and '' Half a Crown''. Her fantasy novel ''

Lifelode ''Lifelode'' is a 2009 fantasy novel by Jo Walton, published by NESFA Press, with an introduction by Sharyn November. Setting In a land where the rules governing thought, magic, and even the flow of time are dependent on how far east or west one ...

'' 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 Awar ...

, and her alternate history '' My Real Children'' received the 2015

Tiptree Award The Otherwise Award, originally known as the James Tiptree Jr. Award, is an American annual literary prize for works of science fiction or fantasy that expand or explore one's understanding of gender. It was initiated in February 1991 by science ...

. Walton is also known for her non-fiction, including book reviews and SF commentary in the magazine ''

Tor.com ''Reactor'', formerly ''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 specul ...

''. 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. Originally a poll ...

for Best Non-Fiction.

Background

Walton was born in 1964 in

Aberdare Aberdare ( ; ) is a town in the Cynon Valley area of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, at the confluence of the Rivers Dare (Dâr) and River Cynon, Cynon. Aberdare has a population of 39,550 (mid-2017 estimate). Aberdare is south-west of Merthyr Tydf ...

, a town in the

Cynon Valley Cynon Valley () is a former coal mining valley in Wales. It 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 in the south. From 1974 to 19 ...

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 Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

; 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 Howell's School () is a private day school for girls in Llandaff, a district in northern Cardiff, Wales. It consists of a nursery, infants, junior, senior school and a sixth form. The sixth form became coeducational in September 2005 and was re ...

and finished her education at

Oswestry School Oswestry School is an ancient public school (English independent boarding and day school), located in Oswestry, Shropshire, England. It was founded in 1407 as a 'free' school, being independent of the church. This gives it the distinction of b ...

in Shropshire and at the

Lancaster University Lancaster University (officially The University of Lancaster) is a collegiate public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several new univer ...

. She lived in London for two years and lived in

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

until 1997. She then moved to

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

, where she lived until she moved to Canada in 2002. Walton speaks

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

: "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 A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...

publications, such as ''

Pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

'', mostly in collaboration with her husband at the time, Ken Walton, co-founder of the

Cakebread & Walton Cakebread & Walton is a British games company that creates and publishes tabletop games. Best known for its ''Clockwork & Chivalry'', ''Renaissance System'' and '' Abney Park's Airship Pirates'' games, they also offer titles covering a range of l ...

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 (), a portmanteau of User's Network, is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose UUCP, Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Elli ...

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 King's peace or the King's Peace may refer to: * King's peace (law), also queen's peace, a term in Anglo-Saxon law and later in English law and common law * Peace of Antalcidas, between Ancient Greek city-states and Persia * ''The King's Peace'' ...

'' (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 According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a leader of the post-Ro ...

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 earl ...

'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 Anthony Trollope ( ; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among the best-known of his 47 novels are two series of six novels each collectively known as the ''Chronicles of Barsetshire ...

could have written, but about dragons rather than humans. ''

'' was her first science fiction novel, placing the genre of the

firmly inside an

alternative history Alternate history (also referred to as alternative history, allohistory, althist, or simply A.H.) is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As ...

in which the United Kingdom made peace with

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

before the involvement of the United States in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was nominated for a

Nebula Award 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 Association (SFWA), a nonprofit association of pr ...

, a

Quill Award The Quill Award was an American literary award that ran for three years, from 2005 to 2007. It was a "consumer-driven award created to inspire reading while promoting literacy". The Quills Foundation, the organization behind the award, was supp ...

, 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 w ...

. A sequel, '' Ha'penny'', was published in October 2007, 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 given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society. American author and activist L. Neil Smith established the Best Novel category for the award in 1979; however, it was not award ...

(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 his ...

'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 Foundation, Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literatur ...

. 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 N ...

'' (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 by the World Science Fiction Society for science fiction or fantasy stories published in, or translated to, English during the previous calendar year. The novel award is ava ...

and

Nebula Award for Best Novel The Nebula Award for Best Novel is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (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; ...

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

; the ''

Thessaly Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Aeolic Greek#Thessalian, Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient Thessaly, a ...

'' trilogy (2015–16), a science fiction/fantasy series involving the

Greek Gods In ancient Greece, deities were regarded as immortal, anthropomorphic, and powerful. They were conceived of as individual persons, rather than abstract concepts or notions, and were described as being similar to humans in appearance, albeit larg ...

and a re-imagining of Plato's ''

Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

''; and the historical fantasy ''

Lent Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christianity, Christian religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Christ, t ...

'' (2019), set in

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

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 sep ...

'' is a

metafictional Metafiction is a form of fiction that emphasizes its own narrative structure in a way that inherently reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and storyte ...

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 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 is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

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

Bibliography

Novels

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

'' (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 an ...

, ) * ''

'' (January 2011, Tor Books ) * '' My Real Children'' (May 2014, Tor Books, ) * ''

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

'' (July 2020, Tor Books, ) * ''Everybody's Perfect'' (forthcoming)March Subsidiary Deals
/ref>

''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

* ''

'' (August 2006, Tor Books, ) * '' Ha'penny'' (October 2007, Tor Books, ) * '' Half a Crown'' (August 2008, Tor Books, ) * "Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction" (short story) (July 2010, Tor Books) (included in ''Starlings'')

''Thessaly'' trilogy

* ''

The Just City ''The Just City'' is a science fiction/fantasy novel by Jo Walton, published by Tor Books in January 2015. It is the first book of the ''Thessaly'' trilogy. The sequel '' The Philosopher Kings'' was published in June 2015, and the final volume, ' ...

'' (January 2015, Tor Books, ) * ''

The Philosopher Kings The Philosopher Kings are a Canadian band. The band was most commercially successful in the late 1990s and have been nominated for five Juno Awards, winning one in 1996 for "Best New Group". Most of the band members, current and former, have also ...

'' (June 2015, Tor Books, ) * ''

Necessity Necessary or necessity may refer to: Concept of necessity * Need ** An action somebody may feel they must do ** An important task or essential thing to do at a particular time or by a particular moment * Necessary and sufficient condition, in l ...

'' (July 2016, Tor Books, ) * ''Thessaly, the Complete Trilogy'' (September 2017, Tor Books, )

Other works

* ''

GURPS Celtic Myth ''GURPS Celtic Myth'' is a supplement published by Steve Jackson Games in 1995 for the role-playing system ''GURPS''. Contents ''GURPS Celtic Myth'' is a softcover book of Iron Age Celtic culture written by the then husband and wife team of Ken ...

'' (with Ken Walton; 1995, roleplaying supplement) * ''The End of the World in Duxford'' (1997), a poem inspired by

Larry Niven Laurence van Cott Niven (; born April 30, 1938) is an American science fiction writer. His 1970 novel ''Ringworld'' won the Hugo Award for Best Novel, Hugo, Locus Award, Locus, Ditmar Award, Ditmar, and Nebula Award for Best Novel, Nebula award ...

's short story "

Inconstant Moon ''Inconstant Moon'' is a science fiction short story collection by American author Larry Niven that was published in 1973. "Inconstant Moon" is also a 1971 short story that is included in the collection. The title refers to "O, swear not by the ...

" * ''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,

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. History Tor was founded by Tom Doherty, ...

, ) * ''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,

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

) (included in "Starlings") * "The Jump Rope Rhyme" (2017,

) * "A Burden Shared" (2017,

) (included in "Starlings")

Critical studies, reviews and biography

* "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 Usenet people Welsh bloggers Welsh emigrants to Canada Welsh fantasy writers Welsh science fiction writers Welsh women novelists British women historical novelists Canadian women science fiction and fantasy writers World Fantasy Award–winning writers Writers of modern Arthurian fiction