Gillian Rubinstein (born 29 August 1942) is an English-born children's author and playwright. Born in Potten End,

Berkhamsted Berkhamsted ( ) is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, in the Bulbourne valley, north-west of London. The town is a civil parish with a town council within the borough of Dacorum which is based in the neighbouring large new town ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, England, Rubinstein split her childhood between England and Nigeria, moving to Australia in 1973. As well as eight plays, numerous short stories and articles, she has written over 30 books. Her award-winning and hugely popular 1986 debut ''

Space Demons Space Demons is a Young-Adult Novel, young adult novel written by Gillian Rubinstein, first published in 1986. It details the story of five children playing a video game which both affects and is affected by their real lives. It is the first of a ...

'' introduced the themes of growing up and fantasy worlds which emerge often in her other writings. Books such as ''At Ardilla'', ''Foxspell'' and ''

Galax-Arena ''Galax-Arena'', by Gillian Rubinstein, is a 1995 science fiction novel following 3 children who are kidnapped by aliens. It deals with issues of slavery, what we know versus what we believe to be true, the difference between children and adults ...

'' all received critical acclaim and multiple awards. In 2001, Rubinstein published ''

Across the Nightingale Floor ''Across the Nightingale Floor'' is the first of Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori trilogy, first published in 2002. Plot Across the Nightingale Floor is set in a fictional world based on Japan during the Sengoku period, and follows the story o ...

'', the first of the best-selling three-book series ''

Tales of the Otori Tales of the Otori is a series of historical fantasy novels by Gillian Rubinstein, writing under the pen name Lian Hearn, set in a fictional world based on feudal Japan. The series initially consisted of a trilogy: ''Across the Nightingale Floor ...

'' series under the pseudonym Lian Hearn. The series is set in a fictional island nation resembling

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...

Japan and is her first work to reach an adult audience. The name 'Lian', comes from a childhood nickname and 'Hearn' apparently refers to herons which are a prominent theme in the series. It has also been suggested that the surname is most likely borrowed from

Lafcadio Hearn , born Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (; el, Πατρίκιος Λευκάδιος Χέρν, Patríkios Lefkádios Chérn, Irish language, Irish: Pádraig Lafcadio O'hEarain), was an Irish people, Irish-Greeks, Greek-Japanese people, Japanese writer, t ...

; one of the first Western writers to tackle Japanese mythology. Gillian Rubinstein currently resides in

Mullumbimby, New South Wales Mullumbimby is an Australian town in the Byron Shire in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. It promotes itself as "The Biggest Little Town in Australia". The town lies at the foot of Mount Chincogan in the Brunswick Valley about 9 k ...

Works

Writing as Gillian Rubinstein

* ''

'' (1987) * ''Beyond the Labyrinth'' (1988) * ''Skymaze'' (1989) * ''Answers to Brut'' (Omnibus Books, 1991) * ''

'' (Hyland House, 1992) (2nd edition 2001) * ''Mr Plunkett's pool'' (Random House Australia, 1992), illustrated by Terry Denton * ''Keep Me Company'' (Viking, 1992), illustrated by Lorraine Hannay * ''Dog in, Cat Out'' (Ticknor & Fields, 1993), illustrated by Ann James * ''Foxspell'' (Hyland House, 1994) * ''Jake and Pete'' (Random House Australia, 1995), illustrated by Terry Denton * ''The Giant's Tooth'' (Puffin, 1995), illustrated by Craig Smith * ''Peanut the ponyrat'' (Heinemann, 1995) * ''Annie's Brother's Suit'' (Hyland House, 1996) * ''Witch Music and other stories'' (Hyland House, 1996) * ''Shinkei'' (Omnibus Books, 1996) * ''Sharon, keep your hair on'' (Random House Australia, 1996), illustrated by David Mackintosh * ''Under the Cat's Eye'' (Hodder Headline, 1997) * ''Jake and Pete and the stray dogs'' Random House Australia, 1997), illustrated by Terry Denton * ''Each beach'' (Box Press, 1998) illustrations by Mark Sofilas * ''Hooray for the Kafe Karaoke'' (Random House Australia, 1998), pictures by David Mackintosh * ''The Pirates' Ship'' (Puffin Books, 1998), illustrated by Craig Smith * ''The Fairy's Wings'' (Puffin Books, 1998), illustrated by Craig Smith * ''Pure Chance'' (Walker Books, 1998), illustrations by Caroline Binch * ''Ducky's nest'' (Random House Australia, 1999), illustrated by Terry Denton * ''The Mermaid of Bondi Beach'' (Hodder Children's Books, 1999), illustrated by Anna Pignataro * ''Jake & Pete and the Catcrowbats'' (Random House Australia, 1999), illustrated by Terry Denton * ''Jake and Pete and the magpie's wedding'' (Random House Australia, 2000), with Terry Denton * ''Terra-Farma'' (Viking, 2001) * ''Prue Theroux : the cool librarian'' (Random House Australia, 2001), illustrated by David Mackintosh * ''The Whale's Child'' (Hodder Headline Australia, 2002)

Writing as Lian Hearn

Tales of the Otori Tales of the Otori is a series of historical fantasy novels by Gillian Rubinstein, writing under the pen name Lian Hearn, set in a fictional world based on feudal Japan. The series initially consisted of a trilogy: ''Across the Nightingale Floor ...

# ''

'' (2002) # ''

Grass for His Pillow ''Grass for His Pillow'' is the second novel in Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori trilogy, published in 2003. The events in the novel cover a period of approximately 6 months (from Autumn through to Spring the next year), following directly after t ...

'' (2003) # ''

Brilliance of the Moon ''Brilliance of the Moon'' is the third novel in Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori trilogy, published in 2004. It describes the events during the months following Takeo and Kaede's marriage at the end of the second book, '' Grass for His Pillow'', ...

'' (2004) # ''

The Harsh Cry of the Heron The Harsh Cry of the Heron is the sequel to Lian Hearn's popular ''Tales of the Otori'' trilogy, first published on March 7, 2006. The novel is set sixteen years after the events of the Trilogy, and covers a period of about two years. It chron ...

'' (2006) # '' Heaven's Net is Wide'' (2007) *"His Kikuta Hands" (2016), short story expanding on a scene in ''Brilliance of the Moon''

Children of the Otori

# ''Orphan Warriors'' (2020) # ''Sibling Assassins'' (2020) *"Wine, Knife, Sword - A Tale from the Eight Islands" (2018, free ebook), short story, background to ''Orphan Warriors''

The Tale of Shikanoko

# ''Emperor of the Eight Islands'' (April 2016) # ''Autumn Princess, Dragon Child'' (June 2016) # ''Lord of the Darkwood'' (August 2016) # ''The Tengu's Game of Go'' (September 2016) The ''Tale of Shikanoko'' series is set in the Otori universe, several centuries prior to the ''Tales of the Otori''.

Standalone novels

*''The Storyteller and His Three Daughters'' (2013) *''Blossoms and Shadows'' (2014)

Writing as G.M. Hanson

*''"See Nikko and Die"'', story in ''Love Lies Bleeding'', edited by Jennifer Rowe

Compilation edited by Gillian Rubinstein

* ''After Dark: Seven Tales to Read at Night'' (Omnibus/Puffin, 1988) * ''Before Dawn: More Tales to Read at Night'' (Omnibus/Puffin, 1988)

Contributions

* New introduction as Lian Hearn for ''Japan and Her People'', by

Anna Hartshorne Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221) ...

, Jetlag Press, 2007. Edited by Brent Massey and Christopher E. West.

Awards

Children's Peace Literature Award Children's Peace Literature Award is an Australian literary prize awarded every other year by the South Australian Psychologists for Peace, an interest group of the Australian Psychological Society. The Children's Peace Literature Award was ina ...

1987 *

Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis The (German Youth Literature Award) is an annual award established in 1956 by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth to recognise outstanding works of children's and young adult literature. It is Germany's only ...

2004

References

External links

Gillian Rubinstein
(official)
Lian Hearn
(official)
GIllian Rubinstein
at

AustLit AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource (also known as AustLit: Australian Literature Gateway; and AustLit: The Resource for Australian Literature), usually referred to simply as AustLit, is an internet-based, non-profit collaboration betwee ...

*
Lian Hearn
at publisher Macmillan * , an
at WorldCat

Lian Hearn
at LC Authorities an
at WorldCat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubinstein, Gillian 1942 births English children's writers English emigrants to Australia English women writers Writers from South Australia Living people British expatriates in Nigeria People from Goolwa, South Australia