2012 Mythopoeic Award Nominees

Finalists for the 2012 Mythopoeic Awards have been announced. The winners will be revealed during Mythcon XLIII, to be held from August 3-6, in Berkeley, California.

Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature

  • Lisa Goldstein, The Uncertain Places (Tachyon)
  • Erin Morgenstern, The Night Circus (Doubleday)
  • Richard Parks, The Heavenly Fox (PS Publishing)
  • Catherynne M. Valente, Deathless (Tor)
  • Jo Walton, Among Others (Tor)

Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature

  • Lisa Mantchev, Théâtre Illuminata series, consisting of Eyes Like Stars, Perchance to Dream, and So Silver Bright (Feiwel and Friends)
  • Tamora Pierce, Beka Cooper series, consisting of Terrier, Bloodhound, and Mastiff (Random House)
  • Delia Sherman, The Freedom Maze (Big Mouth House)
  • Maggie Stiefvater, The Scorpio Races (Scholastic)
  • Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making (Feiwel and Friends)

Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies

  • Jason Fisher, ed. Tolkien and the Study of His Sources: Critical Essays (McFarland, 2011)
  • Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, The Art of the Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (HarperCollins, 2011)
  • Carl Phelpstead. Tolkien and Wales: Language, Literature and Identity (Univ. of Wales Press, 2011)
  • Sanford Schwartz. C.S. Lewis on the Final Frontier: Science and the Supernatural in the Space Trilogy (Oxford Univ. Press, 2009)
  • Steve Walker, The Power of Tolkien’s Prose: Middle-earth’s Magical Style (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009)

Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Myth and Fantasy Studies

  • Ruth B. Bottigheimer, Fairy Tales: A New History (SUNY Press, 2009)
  • Bonnie Gaarden, The Christian Goddess: Archetype and Theology in the Fantasies of George MacDonald (Fairleigh Dickinson Univ. Press, 2011)
  • Ursula K. Le Guin, Cheek by Jowl (Aqueduct Press, 2009)
  • Darrell Schweitzer, The Fantastic Horizon: Essays and Reviews (Borgo Press, 2009)
  • Jack Zipes, The Enchanted Screen: The Unknown History of Fairy-Tale Films (Routledge, 2011)

The Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature is given to the fantasy novel, multi-volume, or single-author story collection for adults published during 2011that best exemplifies the spirit of the Inklings. Books are eligible for two years after publication if not selected as a finalist during the first year of eligibility. Books from a series are eligible if they stand on their own; otherwise, the series becomes eligible the year its final volume appears.

The Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature honors books for younger readers (from Young Adults to picture books for beginning readers), in the tradition of The Hobbit or The Chronicles of Narnia. Rules for eligibility are otherwise the same as for the Adult Literature award. The question of which award a borderline book is best suited for will be decided by consensus of the committees.

The Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies is given to books on Tolkien, Lewis, and/or Williams that make significant contributions to Inklings scholarship. For this award, books first published during the last three years (2009–2011) are eligible, including finalists for previous years.

The Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Myth and Fantasy Studies is given to scholarly books on other specific authors in the Inklings tradition, or to more general works on the genres of myth and fantasy. The period of eligibility is three years, as for the Inklings Studies award.