Carol Emshwiller (April 12, 1921 – February 2, 2019) was an American writer of

avant garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or 'vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical De ...

short stories and

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

who has won prizes ranging from the

Nebula Award The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of profe ...

to the

Philip K. Dick Award The Philip K. Dick Award is an American science fiction award given annually at Norwescon and sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and (since 2005) the Philip K. Dick Trust. Named after science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, ...

Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the '' Earthsea'' fantasy series. She was ...

has called her "a major fabulist, a marvelous magical realist, one of the strongest, most complex, most consistently

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

voices in fiction". Among her novels are ''Carmen Dog'' and '' The Mount''. She has also written two cowboy novels called ''Ledoyt'' and ''Leaping Man Hill''. Her last novel, ''The Secret City'', was published in April 2007. She was the widow of artist and experimental filmmaker

Ed Emshwiller Edmund Alexander Emshwiller (February 16, 1925 – July 27, 1990) was an American visual artist notable for his science fiction illustrations and his pioneering experimental films. He usually signed his illustrations as Emsh but sometimes used E ...

and "regularly served as his model for paintings of beautiful women." The couple had three children. Susan Jenny Coulson co-wrote the movie ''

Pollock Pollock or pollack (pronounced ) is the common name used for either of the two species of North Atlantic marine fish in the genus ''Pollachius''. ''Pollachius pollachius'' is referred to as pollock in North America, Ireland and the United Kingd ...

'';

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

is an actor, artist, screenwriter, and novelist; and Eve is a botanist and ethnobotanist at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

Biography

Emshwiller was born in

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...

. She lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

most of the year and spent her summers in Owens Valley, California, and has used this setting in her stories. In 2005, she was awarded the

World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

. Her short story "Creature", won the 2002

Nebula Award for Best Short Story The Nebula Award for Best Short Story is a literary award assigned each year by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy short stories. A work of fiction is defined by the organization as a short stor ...

, and "I Live With You" won the 2005

in the same category. In 2009, she donated her archive to the department of Rare Books and Special Collections at

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of the state's system ...

. She died on February 2, 2019, in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

, where she was living with her daughter, Susan Jenny Coulson.

Bibliography

Novels

* *''Ledoyt'' (1995) *''Leaping Man Hill'' (1999) *'' The Mount'' (2002) *''Mister Boots'' (2005) *''The Secret City'' (

Tachyon Publications Tachyon Publications is an independent press specializing in science fiction and fantasy books. Founded in San Francisco in 1995 by Jacob Weisman, Tachyon books have tended toward high-end literary works, short story collections, and anthologies ...

, 2007)

Short fiction

;Collections *''Joy in Our Cause: Short Stories'' (1974) *''Verging on the Pertinent'' (1989) *''The Start of the End of It All'' (1990) (Winner of the

World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy literature, fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year a ...

, Best Collection) *''Report to the Men's Club and Other Stories'' (2002) *''I Live With You'' (

, 2005) *''The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller'' (2011) *''In The Time Of War & Master Of the Road To Nowhere'' (2011) ;Stories

References

External links

*
Biography
at ''

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (SFE) is an English language reference work on science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and f ...

'' * *
2011 radio interview
at

The Bat Segundo Show ''The Bat Segundo Show'' was a podcast based in New York City run by writer and literary critic Edward Champion between 2004 and 2012. It was revived in mid-2013. The program features comprehensive interviews with prominent figures in arts and ...

*
PELT (1958)
reprint at Library of America. Includes a biographical sketch, and a 1957 portrait by

. * Episode 6 of the podcas
''Buxom Blondes with Ray Guns''
(Hannah Wolfe, March 3, 2018) features two 1957 stories by Carol Emshwiller. {{DEFAULTSORT:Emshwiller, Carol 1921 births 2019 deaths 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American short story writers 21st-century American women writers American fantasy writers American feminist writers American science fiction writers American women novelists American women short story writers Fabulists The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction people Nebula Award winners Novelists from Michigan University of Michigan alumni Women science fiction and fantasy writers World Fantasy Award-winning writers Writers from Ann Arbor, Michigan