Jeff VanderMeer facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jeff VanderMeer
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Jeff VanderMeer in 2019
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| Born | July 7, 1968 (age 57) Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
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| Genre | Speculative fiction Fantasy Metafiction Horror Science fiction Weird fiction |
| Literary movement | New Weird |
| Notable awards | Nebula Award for Best Novel, Shirley Jackson Award, World Fantasy Award |
| Spouse | Ann VanderMeer |
Jeff VanderMeer (born July 7, 1968) is an American author and editor. He is famous for his unique writing style, often called "New Weird" fiction. He became very popular with his bestselling Southern Reach Series. The first book in this series, Annihilation, won important awards like the Nebula and Shirley Jackson Awards. It was even made into a Hollywood movie!
Some of VanderMeer's other well-known books include Shriek: An Afterword and Borne. He has also worked with his wife, Ann VanderMeer, to edit many popular books of collected stories, such as The New Weird and The Big Book of Science Fiction. People have called VanderMeer "one of the most amazing writers of fantasy in America today." The New Yorker magazine even called him the "King of Weird Fiction."
VanderMeer's stories are known for mixing different types of writing. They often include ideas from modern writing, stories about nature (ecofiction), and tales about worlds after big disasters (post-apocalyptic fiction). His writing is described as "full of feeling" and having "deep and sometimes unsettling ideas."
Contents
Early Life and Education
Jeff VanderMeer was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, in 1968. He spent a lot of his childhood in the Fiji Islands. His parents worked there for the Peace Corps, helping people. After living in Fiji, he moved back to the United States. He lived in Ithaca, New York, and Gainesville, Florida.
He studied at the University of Florida for three years. In 1992, he joined the Clarion Writers Workshop. This workshop helps new writers improve their skills. When he was 20, VanderMeer read a book called The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman by Angela Carter. He said this book "blew the back of my head off" and made him want to write with more passion and bravery.
Writing Career
Early Stories and Books
VanderMeer started writing in the late 1980s when he was still in high school. He wrote many short stories for small magazines. These early stories were often about horror and fantasy. Some of them were put together in his first book, The Book of Frog, in 1989. Another collection, The Book of Lost Places, came out in 1996. He also wrote poems and edited a small magazine called Jabberwocky.
One of his first big successes was his 2001 collection of short stories, City of Saints and Madmen. These stories were set in an imaginary city called Ambergris. Later, some of his novels, like Shriek: An Afterword (2006) and Finch (2009), were also set in Ambergris. Finch was even nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel. In 2000, his shorter novel The Transformation of Martin Lake won the World Fantasy Award.
VanderMeer has also worked on projects outside of books. A movie based on his novel Shriek was planned, with music by the rock band The Church. Another band, Murder By Death, made music for his book Finch. He also wrote a Predator comic book story and worked on an animation for PlayStation Europe.
The Southern Reach Series
In 2014, a publisher called Farrar, Straus and Giroux released Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Series. This series includes three novels: Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance. The story is about a secret group that explores a mysterious place called Area X. This area is an empty part of the United States that nature has started to take over after a strange event.
VanderMeer said he got the idea for Area X from hiking in the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. He also mentioned that the book The Other Side of the Mountain by Michel Bernanos influenced him. The three books in the series were released very quickly, one after another, over eight months. This quick release was a new idea, like how Netflix releases TV shows. This helped the second and third books become New York Times bestsellers. It also made VanderMeer known as a very creative author.
The series received many honors. Annihilation won the Nebula and Shirley Jackson Awards for Best Novel. The whole series was also nominated for the 2015 World Fantasy Award. In 2018, Annihilation was made into a movie by writer and director Alex Garland. Famous actors like Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac starred in the film.
Recent Writing
In 2017, VanderMeer released Borne. This book is about a scavenger named Rachel trying to survive in a city that has become wild and strange. She also has to deal with a giant flying bear named Mord. Like his other books, Borne was highly praised. Critics said it felt like a mix of science fiction, myths, and video games. Some even said VanderMeer had created a new type of writing called "weird literature."
Paramount Pictures has bought the rights to make Borne into a movie. In August 2017, VanderMeer released a shorter novel called The Strange Bird: A Borne Story. This story is set in the same world as Borne but has different characters. Dead Astronauts, another book set in the Borne universe, came out in December 2019. A stand-alone novel, Hummingbird Salamander, was published in April 2021.
Literary Criticism and Editing
Jeff VanderMeer often writes reviews and essays about books. His writings have appeared in many places, including The Atlantic and The Washington Post. For several years, he wrote a regular column for Amazon's book blog. He has also been a judge for awards like the Eisner Awards. He has given talks at many events around the world, like the Brisbane Writers Festival and the American Library Association conference. In 2019, he was a judge for the National Book Award for Fiction.
VanderMeer has also edited many collections of stories. He won a 2003 World Fantasy Award for Leviathan, Volume Three, a collection of unique stories he edited with Forrest Aguirre. Most of his recent collections have been with his wife, Ann VanderMeer. She is an award-winning editor herself. Together, they have edited books like The New Weird, The Weird (which won a World Fantasy Award), and The Big Book of Science Fiction (which won a Locus Award).
VanderMeer also started his own publishing company called Ministry of Whimsy Press when he was in high school. One of the books published by his press, The Troika by Stepan Chapman, won the Philip K. Dick Award in 1997.
Teaching Creative Writing
VanderMeer enjoys teaching others how to write. He is involved with Shared Worlds, a two-week program that teaches creative writing to teenagers every year. He has also taught at the Clarion Workshop and Trinity Prep School. Besides teaching, VanderMeer has written guides for creative writing, such as Wonderbook. This book won several awards, including a BSFA Award and a Locus Award.
Personal Life
In 2003, Jeff VanderMeer married Ann Kennedy. She was an editor for a small magazine at the time. As of 2018, the couple lives in Tallahassee, Florida. They have two cats, and one of them is named Neo.
Awards and Recognition
Jeff VanderMeer has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award 14 times. He has also won other awards, including a Florida Individual Writers' Fellowship and awards in France and Finland for his book City of Saints. He has been nominated for many other important awards, such as the Hugo Award and the Bram Stoker Award. His novels, like Veniss Underground and Shriek: An Afterword, have been named among the best books of the year by places like Amazon.com and Publishers Weekly.
See also
In Spanish: Jeff VanderMeer para niños
