Patricia A. McKillip facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Patricia Anne McKillip
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McKillip in 2011
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| Born | February 29, 1948 Salem, Oregon, U.S. |
| Died | May 6, 2022 (aged 74) Coos Bay-North Bend, Oregon, U.S. |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Alma mater | San Jose State University |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Notable awards | Mythopoeic Awards 1995, World Fantasy Award 1975 and 2003, World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement 2008 |
Patricia Anne McKillip (February 29, 1948 – May 6, 2022) was an American author of fantasy and science fiction. She has been called "one of the most accomplished prose stylists in the fantasy genre", and wrote predominantly standalone fantasy novels. Her work won numerous awards, including the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2008.
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Personal life
McKillip was born in Salem, Oregon to Wayne and Helen (née Roth) McKillip. She grew up in Oregon, Great Britain, and Germany. She attended the College of Notre Dame (Belmont, California) and San Jose State University (San Jose, California), where she earned her BA and MA degrees in English in the early 1970s.
McKillip was married to David Lunde, a poet.
Death
She died on May 6, 2022, at the age of 74 at her home in Coos Bay-North Bend, Oregon. No cause of death was disclosed.
Career
McKillip's first publications were two short children's books, The Throme of the Erril of Sherill and The House on Parchment Street. Her first novel, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, was published in 1974, when she was 26 years old, and won the World Fantasy Award in 1975.
McKillip's Riddle-Master trilogy, published from 1976 to 1979, was regarded by scholar Peter Nicholls as "a work of classic stature". It was selected as part of Gollancz's Fantasy Masterworks series. In 2008, she was a recipient of the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement. Most of her recent novels feature cover paintings by Kinuko Y. Craft.
On writing fantasy, McKillip said, "The tropes of mythology and symbolism are the basics. It's like a notation in music; you can change it in really wacky ways, but the sound is always the same, the sound is always there. As long as we need these symbols, then the stories will be written. But if we destroy the old symbols, then we might just have to come up with new ones--who knows?"
Since 1994, McKillip's writing comprised purely standalone novels. Critic Brian Stableford described her as "one of the most accomplished prose stylists in the fantasy genre", while Peter Nicholls and John Clute considered her "perhaps the most impressive author of fantasy story still active".
Awards
McKillip holds the record for the most Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards (four) and nominations (fifteen). She has also won World Fantasy Awards for Best Novel, as well as for Life Achievement.
| Award | Work | Result |
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| Hugo Award | Harpist in the Wind (1979) | Nominated |
| Locus Award | Harpist in the Wind (1979) | Won |
| Mythopoeic Award | The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (1974) | Nominated |
| The Changeling Sea (1988) | Nominated | |
| The Sorceress and the Cygnet (1991) | Nominated | |
| The Cygnet and the Firebird (1993) | Nominated | |
| Something Rich and Strange (1994) | Won | |
| The Book of Atrix Wolfe (1995) | Nominated | |
| Winter Rose (1996) | Nominated | |
| Song for the Basilisk (1998) | Nominated | |
| Ombria in Shadow (2002) | Won | |
| In the Forests of Serre (2003) | Nominated | |
| Alphabet of Thorn (2004) | Nominated | |
| Solstice Wood (2006) | Won | |
| The Bell at Sealey Head (2008) | Nominated | |
| The Bards of Bone Plain (2010) | Nominated | |
| Kingfisher (2016) | Won | |
| Nebula Award | Winter Rose (1996) | Nominated |
| The Tower at Stony Wood (2000) | Nominated | |
| World Fantasy Award | The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (1974) | Won |
| Harpist in the Wind (1979) | Nominated | |
| Ombria in Shadow (2002) | Won | |
| Od Magic (2005) | Nominated |
See also
In Spanish: Patricia A. McKillip para niños
