Tanith Lee facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tanith Lee
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Raising money for the Alzheimer's Research Trust during the 2011 campaign Match It For Pratchett (Terry Pratchett)
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| Born | 19 September 1947 London, England |
| Died | 24 May 2015 (aged 67) East Sussex, England |
| Pen name | Esther Garber Judas Garbah |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Genre | Speculative fiction |
| Notable awards | 1980 British Fantasy Award, 1983 & 1984 World Fantasy Award |
| Spouse |
John Kaiine
(m. 1992) |
Tanith Lee (born September 19, 1947 – died May 24, 2015) was a famous British writer. She wrote many books and short stories in the science fiction and fantasy genres. She wrote over 90 novels and 300 short stories!
Tanith Lee won several important awards for her writing. These include the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award and the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Horror. She also wrote a children's picture book called Animal Castle and many poems. She even wrote two episodes for the BBC science fiction TV show Blake's 7. Tanith Lee was the first woman to win the British Fantasy Award for best novel. She won this award for her book Death's Master in 1980.
Contents
About Tanith Lee
Her Early Life
Tanith Lee was born in London, England, on September 19, 1947. Her parents, Bernard and Hylda Lee, were professional dancers. She was not the daughter of the actor Bernard Lee, who played "M" in the James Bond movies.
Tanith Lee said her childhood was happy. But she was often bullied and had to move a lot because of her parents' jobs. Even though her family didn't have much money, they had many paperback books. Tanith loved to read weird fiction stories. She also talked about books like Hamlet and Dracula with her parents.
Tanith went to many different schools. At first, she found reading hard because she had a mild form of dyslexia. When she was 8 years old, her father taught her to read in about a month. She started writing her own stories when she was just 9 years old.
Her Education and Jobs
Because her parents moved often for work, Tanith Lee went to many primary schools. Then she attended Prendergast Grammar School for Girls. After high school, she went to Croydon Art College for a year.
She soon realized that art college wasn't for her. She left her course and worked many different jobs. She was a file clerk, a waitress, a shop assistant, and an assistant librarian.
Her Writing Journey
Tanith Lee started publishing her work with a short story called The Betrothed in 1968. A friend privately printed it for her. She then began writing seriously, especially children's fantasy stories.
Her first novel, The Dragon Hoard (1971), was a funny fantasy book. In this story, a main character is forced to turn into a raven at random times. Her book Companions on the Road (1975) tells the story of three evil spirits who kill people through dreams. They are looking for a magic cup.
Tanith Lee sold her first professional story, "Eustace," in 1968 when she was 21. It was a very short story, only ninety words long. She kept working other jobs for almost ten more years because her books were often rejected.
Her first children's novel, The Dragon Hoard, was published in 1971. Her career really took off in 1975. This was when DAW Books USA accepted her adult fantasy book, The Birthgrave. Many British publishers had turned down The Birthgrave. After this, Tanith Lee became a full-time writer. She wrote many popular books in different genres.
In the 1990s, her writing career slowed down. Big publishing companies were less interested in her newer books. But Tanith Lee never stopped writing. She had many novels and short stories that were not published at that time. Fans even wrote to her, asking if she was still alive because they hadn't seen new books! Later, selling her books online helped her writing career become popular again.
Personal Life
In 1987, Tanith Lee met an artist and writer named John Kaiine. They got married in 1992. They lived together in the south of England.
Tanith Lee passed away at her home in East Sussex on May 24, 2015. She died from breast cancer.
Her Amazing Works
Tanith Lee often wrote stories about characters growing up and finding out who they are. These are called "coming-of-age" stories. For example, in her book The Birthgrave, the main character goes on a journey to understand her own identity.
Tanith Lee also wrote two long werewolf stories, "Wolfland" and Lycanthia. In these stories, she changed the usual idea of werewolves. She made their behavior more like real wild wolves. This gave werewolf stories a new and more positive meaning.
Her first book for children was The Dragon Hoard in 1971. Her first book for adults was The Birthgrave in 1975. Tanith Lee wrote a huge number of books in many different styles. These include adult fantasy, children's fantasy, science fiction, horror, Gothic horror, and historical fiction.
One of her most famous series is The Flat-Earth Cycle. This series starts with Night's Master and Death's Master. These stories are similar to Jack Vance's The Dying Earth series.
Night's Master tells stories about Azhrarn, a powerful demon prince. He takes a beautiful boy and raises him away from the sad parts of the world. Later, the boy wants to learn about the real world. This leads to many adventures between Azhrarn and humans, some scary and some good. Other stories in the series are based on ancient Babylonian mythology.
In her science fiction Four-BEE series, Tanith Lee looked at youth culture. She explored what it's like to be a teenager in a society where young people are always young and have complete freedom. She also wrote a historical novel called The Gods are Thirsty, which takes place during the French Revolution.
A lot of Tanith Lee's writing was children's fantasy. This was a big part of her career from The Dragon Hoard in 1971 to The Claidi Journals series. This series includes Wolf Tower, Wolf Star, Wolf Queen, and Wolf Wing from the late 1990s and early 2000s.
What Inspired Her
Tanith Lee was inspired by many things. These included other writers, music, movies, and even "small things" she noticed. Her Flat Earth Series was inspired by a game she played with her mother. Some of her other works were influenced by fairy tales her mother told her. She often said that her ideas came from "small things" rather than big inspirations.
Other Writers
Tanith Lee was inspired by many famous writers and playwrights. Some of them include Graham Greene, Rebecca West, Jack Vance, Fritz Leiber, Angela Carter, Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, and Virginia Woolf. She said that Virginia Woolf and C.S. Lewis were very important to her when she was young.
Other Inspirations
Tanith Lee was also influenced by painters, movies, TV shows, and music. She liked composers like Sergei Prokofiev and George Frideric Handel. She also enjoyed music from Annie Lennox and Johnny Cash.
Her favorite movies included Ben-Hur, Forbidden Planet, and The Seventh Seal. The TV series about Bernard Quatermass also inspired her. Painters like Vincent van Gogh, Gustav Klimt, and Leonardo da Vinci influenced her work too.
Awards and Recognition
Tanith Lee won many awards for her amazing stories. Here are some of them:
Nebula Awards
- 1975: The Birthgrave (nominated for best novel)
- 1980: "Red As Blood" (nominated for best short story)
World Fantasy Awards
- 1979: Night's Master (nominated for best novel)
- 1983: "The Gorgon" (winner of best short story)
- 1984: "Elle Est Trois, (La Mort)" (winner of best short story)
- 2013: Life Achievement Award
World Horror Convention
- 2009: Grand Master Award
British Fantasy Awards
- 1979: Quest for the White Witch (nominated for best novel)
- 1980: Death's Master (winner of best novel)
Lambda Awards
- 2010: Disturbed by Her Song (nominated for best LGBT speculative fiction)
See also
In Spanish: Tanith Lee para niños
