Catherynne M. Valente Explained

Catherynne Morgan Valente^[1] (born May 5, 1979) is an American fiction writer, poet, and literary critic. For her speculative fiction novels she has won the annual James Tiptree, Jr. Award, Andre Norton Award, and Mythopoeic Award. Her short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, the anthologies Salon Fantastique and Paper Cities, and numerous "Year's Best" volumes. Her critical work has appeared in the International Journal of the Humanities as well as other essay collections.

Career

Valente's 2009 book Palimpsest won the Lambda Award for LGBT Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Horror. Her two-volume series The Orphan's Tales won the 2008 Mythopoeic Award, and its first volume, The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden, won the 2006 James Tiptree Jr. Award and was nominated for the 2007 World Fantasy Award. In 2012, Valente won three Locus Awards: Best Novelette (White Lines on a Green Field), Best Novella (Silently and Very Fast) and Best YA Novel (The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making).

In 2009, she donated her archive to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) Collection in the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University.^[2]

She is a regular panelist on the podcast SF Squeecast.^[3]

Multimedia and mythpunk

Valente tours with singer/songwriter S. J. Tucker, who has composed albums based on Valente's work. The pair perform reading concerts featuring dancers, aerial artists, art auctions featuring jewelry and paintings based on the novels, and other performances.^[4]

Valente is active in the crowdfunding movement of online artists. Her novel The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making was the first online, crowdfunded book to win a major literary award before traditional publication.^{[5] [6] [7]}

In a 2006 blog post, Valente coined the term mythpunk as a joke for describing her own and other works of challenging folklore-based fantasy.^[8] Valente and other critics and writers have discussed mythpunk as a subgenre of mythic fiction that starts in folklore and myth and adds elements of postmodernist literary techniques.^[9]

Personal life

In a 2025 interview published in Vector, Valente stated that she is queer and has ADHD.^[10]

Works

Novels and Novellas

Standalone adult works

• Book: The Labyrinth . 1 August 2004 . . 9781894815659.
• Book: The Ice Puzzle . 1 January 2005 . B0DTT29DWK.
• Book: . 1 July 2005 . . 9780809510870.
• Book: . 26 December 2006 . . 9780809556779.
• Book: . March 2009 . . 9780553385762.
• Book: . 29 March 2011 . . 9780765326300.
• Book: Silently and Very Fast . . 14 October 2011 . 9781936896004.
• Book: . . 28 February 2013 . 9781596065529.
• Book: Speak Easy . . 31 August 2015 . 9781596067271.
• Book: Radiance . 20 October 2015 . . 9781466821484.
• Book: . Illustrated by Annie Wu . 6 June 2017 . 9781481459341.
• Book: . 20 July 2021 . . 9781250301130.
• Book: . . 26 October 2021 . 9781250816214.

Standalone young adult works

• Book: The Glass Town Game . . 5 September 2017 . . 9781481476966.
• Book: Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods . 26 April 2022 . . 9781481476997.

The Orphan's Tales

See main article: The Orphan's Tales.

1. Book: The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden . 1 . 31 October 2006 . . 9780553384031 . Illustrated by Michael Kaluta.
2. Book: The Orphan's Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice . 2 . 30 October 2007 . . 9780553384048 . Illustrated by Michael Kaluta.

Fairyland

• Book: . 10 May 2011 . . 9780312649616 . Illustrated by Ana Juan.
• Book: The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There . 2 October 2012 . . 9780312649623 . Illustrated by Ana Juan.
• Book: The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two . 1 October 2013 . . 9781250023506 . Illustrated by Ana Juan.
• Book: The Boy Who Lost Fairyland . 3 March 2015 . . 9781250023490 . Illustrated by Ana Juan.
• Book: The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home . 1 March 2016 . . 9781250023513 . Illustrated by Ana Juan.

A Dirge for Prester John

1. Book: The Habitation of the Blessed . 10 January 2010 . . 9781597802789.
2. Book: The Folded World . 1 November 2011 . . 9781597802031.

The Space Opera

1. Book: . 10 April 2018 . . 9781481497497.
2. Book: Space Oddity . 24 September 2024 . . 9781534454521.

Media tie-ins

• Book: . 6 November 2018 . . 9781785651588.
• Book: Minecraft: The End . 3 December 2019 . . 9780399180729.

Fiction collections

• Book: This Is My Letter to the World: The Omikuji Project, Cycle One . 28 April 2010 . Kinsenka Press . 9780557441181.
• Book: Ventriloquism . 1 December 2010 . . 9781848631250.
• Book: Myths of Origin: Four Short Novels . . 6 December 2011 . 9781890464141.
• Book: The Melancholy of Mechagirl . 16 July 2013 . . 9781421556130.
• Book: The Bread We Eat in Dreams . 31 December 2013 . . 9781596065826.
• Book: The Future Is Blue . 31 July 2018 . . 9781596068742.

Poetry collections

• Music of a Proto-Suicide (2004)
• Apocrypha (2005)
• Oracles: A Pilgrimage (2006)
• The Descent of Inanna (2006)
• Book: A Guide to Folktales in Fragile Dialects . 31 May 2008 . . 9781934648353.

Short fiction

• "The Oracle Alone" Music of a Proto-Suicide (2004)
• "Ghosts of Gunkanjima" Papaveria Press (2005)
• "The Maiden-Tree" Cabinet des Fees (2005)
• "Bones Like Black Sugar" Fantasy Magazine (2005)
• "Psalm of the Second Body" PEN Book of Voices (2005)
• "Ascent Is Not Allowed" The Minotaur in Pamplona (2005)
• "Thread: A Triptych" Lone Star Stories (2006)
• "Urchins, While Swimming" Clarkesworld Magazine (2006)
• "Milk and Apples" Electric Velocipede (2006)
• "Temnaya and the House of Books" Mythic (2006)
• "A Grey and Soundless Tide" Salon Fantastique (2006)
• "A Dirge For Prester John" Interfictions (2007)
• "The Ballad of the Sinister Mr. Mouth" Lone Star Stories (2007)
• "La Serenissima" Endicott Studio (2007)
• "The Proslogium of the Great Lakes" Farrago's Wainscot (2007)
• "A Buyer's Guide to Maps of Antarctica" Clarkesworld Magazine (2008)
• "Tales of Beaty and Strangeness: City of Blind Delights" Clockwork Phoenix (2008)
• "The Hanged Man" Farrago's Wainscot (2008)
• "An Anthology of Urban Fantasy: Palimpsest" Paper Cities, ed. Ekaterina Sedia (2008)
• "The Harpooner at the Bottom of the World" Spectra Pulse (2008)
• "Golubash, or, Wine-War-Blood-Elegy" Federations (2009)
• "The Secret History of Mirrors" Clockwork Phoenix 2 (2009)
• "A Book of Villainous Tales:A Delicate Architecture" Troll's Eye View (2009)
• "The Radiant Car Thy Sparrows Drew" Clarkesworld Magazine (2009)
• "The Anachronist's Cookbook" Steampunk Tales (2009)
• "A Between Books Anthology: Proverbs of Hell" The Stories in Between (2010)
• "The Days of Flaming Motorcycles" Dark Faith (2010)
• "Secretario" Weird Tales (2010)
• "Thirteen Ways of Looking at Space/Time" Clarkesworld Magazine (2010)
• "How to Become a Mars Overlord" Lightspeed (2010)
• "15 Panels Depicting the Sadness of the Baku and the Jotai" Haunted Legends (2010)
• "In the Future When All's Well" Teeth (2011)
• "A Voice Like a Hole" Welcome to Bordertown (2011)
• "The Wolves of Brooklyn" Fantasy Magazine (2011)
• "The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland—For a Little While" Tor.com (2011)
• "White Lines on a Green Field" Subterranean Magazine (2011)

Nonfiction

• Introduction to Jane Eyre (Illustrated) (2007)
• "Regeneration X" in Chicks Dig Time Lords (2010)
• Indistinguishable from Magic (2014)

Anthologies edited

• Nebula Awards Showcase 55 (2021)

Awards and honors

Awards for literature

Year	Work	Award	Category	Result	.
2006		James Tiptree Jr. Award	—		[11]
2007		Rhysling Award	Long Poem		[12]
		World Fantasy Award	Novel		[13]
		Million Writers Award	—		[14]
2008		Rhysling Award	Long Poem
		Mythopoeic Award	Adult Literature		[15]
2009		World Fantasy Award			[16]
	(with Amal El-Mohtar)	Rhysling Award	Long Poem
		Andre Norton Award	—		[17]
2010	Palimpsest	Hugo Award	Novel		[18]
		Lambda Literary Award	Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror		[19]
		Locus Award	Fantasy Novel		[20]
		Mythopoeic Award	Adult Literature		[21]
2011	Deathless	James Tiptree Jr. Award	—		[22]
	Silently and Very Fast	Nebula Award	Novella		[23]
		Locus Award	Short Story		[24]
2012		Locus Award	Short Story
	Deathless	Locus Award	Fantasy Novel		[25]
			Adult Literature		[26]
		Nebula Award	Novelette		[27]
		Sidewise Award	Short Form		[28]
		Locus Award	Young Adult Book
	Silently and Very Fast	Hugo Award	Novella		[29]
		Locus Award	Novella
		Theodore Sturgeon Award	—		[30]
		World Fantasy Award	Novella		[31]
		Locus Award	Novelette
2013		Hugo Award	Novelette		[32]
		Locus Award	Young Adult Book		[33]
	Six-Gun Snow White	Nebula Award	Novella		[34]
2014		Locus Award	Collection
		Locus Award	Young Adult Book		[35]
	Six-Gun Snow White	Hugo Award	Novella		[36]
		Locus Award	Novella
		World Fantasy Award	Novella		[37]
2015	Radiance	James Tiptree Jr. Award	—		[38]
2016		Eugie Award	—		[39]
2017		Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire	Foreign Young Adult Novel		[40]
	(novelette)	Locus Award	Novelette		[41]
		Theodore Sturgeon Award	—		[42]
		Eugie Award	—		[43]
2018		Locus Award	Collection		[44]
2019	(collection)	British Fantasy Award	Collection		[45]
		Locus Award	Collection		[46]
	Space Opera	Campbell Memorial Award	Science Fiction Novel		[47]
		Hugo Award	Novel		[48]
		Locus Award	Science Fiction Novel
2021	Comfort Me with Apples		Novel		[49]
2022		Locus Award	Novella
		Hugo Award	Novella		[50]
		Locus Award	Novella		[51]
		Ursula K. Le Guin Prize	—		[52]
		Eugie Award	—		[53]
		Hugo Award	Novelette
		Locus Award	Novelette
		Hugo Award	Short Story
		Locus Award	Short Story
2023		Hugo Award	Novelette		[54]
		Locus Award	Novelette		[55]
	Osmo Unknown and the Eightpenny Woods	Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book	—
2024		Locus Award	Collection		[56]
2025	Space Oddity	Locus Award	Science Fiction Novel		[57]
	Space Opera	Seiun Award	Translated Novel		[58]

Other awards

Year	Work	Award	Category	Result	.
2012	Apex Magazine (with Lynne M. Thomas and Jason Sizemore)	Hugo Award	Semiprozine
	SF Squeecast (with Lynne M. Thomas, Seanan McGuire, Paul Cornell, and Elizabeth Bear)	Hugo Award	Fancast
2013	SF Squeecast (with Lynne M. Thomas, Seanan McGuire, Paul Cornell, and Elizabeth Bear)	Hugo Award	Fancast

External links

• • Web site: Rules for Anchorites . LiveJournal . 2009-01-06 . ky . 2025-07-14. Valente's Blog
• Web site: Catherynne M. Valente: Creating Rule-Breaking Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Writing About . Patreon . 2017-02-25 . 2025-07-14.
• Adams . John Joseph. Catherynne M. Valente is a mythpunk in Episode 23 of The Geek's Guide to the Galaxy . Gizmodo . 2010-10-20 . 2025-07-14.
• Tomio . Jay . Catherynne Valente . nekoplz . 2006-06-02 . 2025-07-14.

Notes and References

1. 3 February 2013 . Catherynne M. Valente: Weird Hybrids . https://web.archive.org/web/20171109111129/https://locusmag.com/2013/02/catherynne-m-valente-weird-hybrids/ . 9 November 2017 . . 69 . 2 / 625.
2. Web site: Thomas. Lynne M.. Hugos, Catherynne Valente Archives, and CLIR Reports. Confessions of a Curator. March 20, 2009. 2009-03-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20121113151009/http://niurarebooks.blogspot.com/2009/03/hugos-catherynne-valente-archives-and.html. 2012-11-13.
3. Web site: List of regular contributors. March 1, 2016. SF Squeecast blog. August 19, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180819124014/http://sfsqueecast.com/about/. dead.
4. Web site: Two Artists, Many Stripes, One Voice: An Interview With S.j. Tucker & Catherynne M. Valente. March 31, 2011. April 6, 2015. The Interstitial Arts Foundation . https://web.archive.org/web/20160330211508/http://www.interstitialarts.org/artists-creators/two-artists-many-stripes-one-voice-an-interview-with-s-j-tucker-catherynne-m-valente . March 30, 2016 . usurped.
5. Web site: 2010 Nebula Awards . 2010 . April 6, 2015 . The Locus Index to SF Awards . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110605232126/http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/Nebula2010.html . June 5, 2011 .
6. Web site: Nebula Awards Results. https://web.archive.org/web/20100525110902/http://www.sfawardswatch.com/?p=3274. dead. May 25, 2010. May 15, 2010. April 6, 2015. Science Fiction Awards Watch.
7. Web site: The Big Idea: Catherynne M. Valente. May 12, 2011. April 6, 2015. Whatever: All Cake and Hand Grenades.
8. Web site: A Rose in Twelve Names . Rules for Anchorites . 2006-03-28 . 2015-10-20 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150506080931/http://catvalente.livejournal.com/263738.html . May 6, 2015 . mdy-all .
9. Web site: Vanderhooft . JoSelle . 2011-01-24 . Mythpunk: An Interview with Catherynne M. Valente . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150219224634/http://www.strangehorizons.com/2011/20110124/mythpunk1-a.shtml . 2015-02-19 . 2015-02-19.
10. Web site: Tony Conn Interviews Catherynne M. Valente . Tony Conn . . . 7 Jan 2025 . 7 Feb 2026.
11. Web site: 2006 Winners . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150929114112/http://tiptree.org/award/2006-winners . September 29, 2015 . 2015-10-20 . tiptree.org.
12. Web site: Rhysling Awards All Nominees . SFADB . 11 Jul 2025.
13. Web site: World Fantasy Award Nominations . . 12 Aug 2007 . 11 Jul 2025.
14. Web site: storySouth Million Writers Award . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130322063110/http://www.storysouth.com/millionwriters/millionwriters2007.html . March 22, 2013 . 2015-10-20 . www.storysouth.com.
15. Web site: 2008 Mythopoeic Awards Winners . . 18 Aug 2008 . 11 Jul 2025.
16. Web site: 2009 World Fantasy Awards Winners . . 1 Nov 2009 . 11 Jul 2025.
17. Web site: 2009 Nebula Awards Winners . . 15 May 2010 . 11 Jul 2025.
18. Web site: Announcing the 2010 Hugo Award Winners! . . 5 Sep 2010 . 11 Jul 2025.
19. Web site: 2010 Awards Finalists & Winners . Lambda Literary Foundation . 11 Jul 2025 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100817064122/http://www.lambdaliterary.org/awards/awards-finalists/ . 2010-08-17.
20. Web site: 2010 Locus Awards Finalists . . 19 Apr 2010 . 11 Jul 2025.
21. Web site: 2010 Mythopoeic Awards . . 12 Jul 2010 . 13 Jul 2025.
22. Web site: Notkin . Debbie . 2012-03-20 . 2011 Long List « Otherwise Award . 2025-07-14 . Otherwise Award . en-US.
23. Web site: 2011 Nebula Awards Winners . . 19 May 2012 . 11 Jul 2025.
24. Web site: 2011 Locus Awards Winners . . 25 Jun 2011 . 13 Jul 2025.
25. Web site: 2012 Locus Awards Winners . . 16 Jun 2012 . 11 Jul 2025.
26. Web site: 2012 Mythopoeic Awards Finalists . . 23 May 2012 . 13 Jul 2025.
27. Web site: 2012 Nebula Awards Winners . . 18 May 2013 . 11 Jul 2025.
28. Web site: 2012 Sidewise Award Finalists . . 1 Jul 2013 . 2 Aug 2025.
29. Web site: 2012 Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners . . 2 Sep 2012 . 11 Jul 2025.
30. Web site: 2012 Campbell and Sturgeon Award Winners . . 29 Jun 2012 . 11 Jul 2025.
31. Web site: 2012 World Fantasy Awards Winners . . 4 Nov 2012 . 11 Jul 2025.
32. Web site: 2013 Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners . . 1 Sep 2013 . 11 Jul 2025.
33. Web site: 2013 Locus Awards Winners . . 29 Jun 2013 . 11 Jul 2025.
34. Web site: 2013 Nebula Awards Winners . . 17 May 2014 . 11 Jul 2025.
35. Web site: 2014 Locus Awards Winners . . 28 Jun 2014 . 13 Jul 2025.
36. Web site: 2014 Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners . . 15 Aug 2014 . 13 Jul 2025.
37. Web site: World Fantasy Awards Winners 2014 . . 9 Nov 2014 . 13 Jul 2025.
38. Web site: Announcing the 2015 James Tiptree Jr. Award Honors . . 1 Apr 2016 . 13 Jul 2025.
39. Web site: September 6, 2016 . Valente Wins Eugie Award . 13 Jul 2025 . Locus.
40. Web site: Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire 2017 Winners . . 5 Jun 2017 . 13 Jul 2025.
41. Web site: 2017 Locus Awards Winners . . 24 Jun 2017 . 13 Jul 2025.
42. Web site: Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award 2017 . sfadb . 11 May 2022 . 18 Oct 2021.
43. Web site: Jemisin wins Eugie Award . . 5 Sep 2017 . 13 Jul 2025.
44. Web site: 2018 Locus Awards Winners . . 23 Jun 2018 . 13 Jul 2025.
45. Web site: 2019 British Fantasy Awards Winners . . 20 Oct 2019 . 13 Jul 2025.
46. Web site: 2019 Locus Awards Finalists . . 7 May 2019 . 13 Jul 2025.
47. Web site: 2019 Campbell and Sturgeon Awards Winners . . 1 Jul 2019 . 2 Aug 2025.
48. Web site: 2019 Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners . . 18 Aug 2019 . 13 Jul 2025.
49. Web site: 2021 Shirley Jackson Award Winners – The Shirley Jackson Awards . 2025-07-13 . en-US.
50. Web site: 2022 Hugo, Astounding, and Lodestar Awards Finalists . Locus . 7 Apr 2022 . 10 May 2022.
51. Web site: 2022 Locus Awards Top Ten Finalists . Locus . 10 May 2022 . 11 May 2022.
52. Web site: Schaub . Michael . 2022-10-25 . Winner of the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize Is Revealed . 2022-10-26 . Kirkus Reviews.
53. Web site: 2022 Eugie Award Winner . . 7 Sep 2022 . 13 Jul 2025.
54. Web site: 2023 Hugo, Astounding, and Lodestar Awards Winners . . 21 Oct 2023 . 13 Jul 2025.
55. Web site: 2023 Locus Awards Winners . . 24 Jun 2023 . 13 Jul 2025.
56. Web site: 2024 Locus Awards Winners . . 22 Jun 2024 . 13 Jul 2025.
57. Web site: 2025 Locus Awards Winners . . 21 Jun 2025 . 13 Jul 2025.
58. Web site: 2025 Seiun Awards Winners . . 28 Jul 2025 . 28 Jan 2026.