Mary Doria Russell (born August 19, 1950) is an American novelist.

Early life and education

Russell was born in

Elmhurst, Illinois Elmhurst is a city mostly in DuPage County and overlapping into Cook County in the U.S. state of Illinois, and a western suburb of Chicago. As of 2021, the city has an estimated population of 47,260. History Members of the Potawatomi Nativ ...

She graduated from

Glenbard East High School Glenbard East High School, or GBE, is a public four-year high school located in Lombard, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, in the United States. It is part of Glenbard Township High School District 87. East, on average, draws around 2,50 ...

Lombard, Illinois Lombard is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States, and a suburb of Chicago. The population was 43,165 at the 2010 census. The United States Census Bureau estimated the population in 2019 to be 44,303. History Originally part of ...

, which has registered its chapter of the National English Honor Society.

Writing career

Sparrow series

Russell's first two novels, '' The Sparrow'' and its sequel '' Children of God''—sometimes called the Sparrow series or Emilio Sandoz sequence—(Random House

Villard Villard may refer to: People * Villard (surname) Places France * Villard, Creuse * Villard, Haute-Savoie *Villard-Bonnot, in the Isère department *Villard-de-Lans, in the Isère department * Villard-d'Héry, in the Savoie department * Villard-L ...

in 1996 and 1998) have been called speculative fiction and focused on the religious and psychological implications of first contact with aliens. Both explore the problem of evil (theodicy) and how to reconcile a benevolent, omniscient, all-powerful deity with lives filled with undeserved suffering. ''The Sparrow'' won the

Arthur C. Clarke Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science-fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A Spac ...

BSFA The British Science Fiction Association Limited is an organisation founded in 1958 by a group of British academics, science fiction fans, authors, publishers and booksellers, in order to promote the writing, criticism, and study of science fiction ...

, and Tiptree annual science fiction book awards (

below Below may refer to: *Earth * Ground (disambiguation) *Soil *Floor * Bottom (disambiguation) *Less than *Temperatures below freezing *Hell or underworld People with the surname *Ernst von Below (1863–1955), German World War I general *Fred Below ...

), and it was the basis for Russell winning the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1998. For ''

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (SFE) is an English language reference work on science fiction, first published in 1979. It has won the Hugo Award, Hugo, Locus Award, Locus and BSFA Award, British SF Awards. Two print editions appeared ...

'', chief editor

John Clute John Frederick Clute (born 12 September 1940) is a Canadian-born author and critic specializing in science fiction and fantasy literature who has lived in both England and the United States since 1969. He has been described as "an integral part ...

calls Russell an "author who established a strong reputation for cognitive subtlety and narrative power in her brief cience fictioncareer; after the Emilio Sandoz sequence ... she turned her interest to other fields."

Other novels

The rest of Russell's novels have been categorized as historical novels, although she draws from a variety of genres when telling these stories. ''A Thread of Grace'' (Random House, 2005) is a World War II thriller set in Northern Italy and features both the

Italian resistance movement The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Socia ...

and the plight of Jewish refugees escaping

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

persecution throughout Europe. Much of story is based on accounts by survivors from the period, when many Italian citizens allowed Jews to seek safe harbor in their farmlands, cities, and ports. (Russell herself is of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

heritage and is a convert to

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in th ...

.) ''Dreamers of the Day'' (Random House, 2008) is a historical romance set in the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

and the Middle East during aftermath of the First World War and the Great Influenza. It focuses on the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference, when Winston Churchill, T. E. Lawrence,

Gertrude Bell Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell, CBE (14 July 1868 – 12 July 1926) was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, and archaeologist. She spent much of her life exploring and mapping the Middle East, and became highl ...

and a group of British oilmen invented the modern Middle East, thus setting the region up for a hundred years of war. ''Doc'' (Random House 2011) is a murder mystery as well as a realistic and compassionate portrait of the notorious "gambler and gunman" known as Doc Holliday. Doc is set in Dodge City, Kansas, during 1878, the last year that Dr. John Henry Holliday's tuberculosis was in check long enough for him to practice dentistry, a profession at which he excelled. The plot revolves around the mysterious death of a half-black, half-Indian boy who leaves a remarkable void in the life of the city. Doc was the American Library Association's Top Pick in Historical Fiction as well as the Kansas State Library's Notable Novel and the Great Lakes Great Reads pick. ''Epitaph'' (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2015) picks up where Doc left off, following Holliday and the Earp brothers to Tombstone, Arizona, and traces the political and social roots of the infamous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, as well as the making of the mythology that surrounds it. Epitaph is deeply researched; in addition to thorough study of the history of those involved, the 60-year-old Russell rode 58 miles on horseback through the mountains surrounding Tombstone, retracing the Earp Vendetta Ride. The novel was called the best ever written on the subject by Earp biographer Allen Barra and was recognized by True West Magazine as the Best Historical Western of 2015. The Ohioana Library Foundation awarded it the Best Fiction Prize of 2016; it also won the Ohioana Readers Choice Award for the year. ''The Women of the Copper Country'' (Atria Books, 2019) is a painstakingly researched novel about the

Copper Country strike of 1913–1914 Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-or ...

, the first unionized strike against all the copper mines in the

Copper Country The Copper Country is an area in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the United States, including Keweenaw County, Michigan, Houghton, Baraga and Ontonagon counties as well as part of Marquette County. The area is so named as copper mining w ...

of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The central character, "Big Annie" Clements, is based on "America's Joan of Arc,"

Anna Clemenc Anna "Big Annie" Klobuchar Clemenc (March 2, 1888 – July 27, 1956; pronounced "Clements") was an American labor activist. Born in Calumet, Michigan, she founded and served as president of the local Women's Auxiliary No. 15 of the Western Federa ...

, who founded the Women's Auxiliary of the

Western Federation of Miners The Western Federation of Miners (WFM) was a trade union, labor union that gained a reputation for militancy in the mining#Human Rights, mines of the western United States and British Columbia. Its efforts to organize both hard rock miners and ...

and proudly carried the flag in many marches against the

Calumet and Hecla Mining Company The Calumet and Hecla Mining Company was a major copper-mining company based within Michigan's Copper Country. In the 19th century, the company paid out more than $72 million in shareholder dividends, more than any other mining company in the Un ...

. Other historical figures, including James MacNaughton, General Manager of Calumet and Hecla, Woodbridge N. Ferris, governor of Michigan during the strike, and Mother Jones, prominent activist and union organizer, are also elaborately and credibly portrayed. The book received a Michigan Notable Book Award for 2020 from the Library of Michigan. Russell is active on the lecture circuit, speaking at colleges, universities and libraries.

Books

* '' The Sparrow'' (

, 1996; Ballantine, 1997) * '' Children of God'' (Villard, 1998; Ballantine, 1999) * ''A Thread of Grace'' (

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, 2005; Ballantine, 2006) * ''Dreamers of the Day'' (Random House, 2008; Ballantine 2009) * ''Doc'' (Random House 2011; Ballantine, 2012) * ''Epitaph: A Novel of the O.K. Corral'' (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2015 hc, 2016 tradepaper) * ''The Women of the Copper Country: A Novel'' (Atria Books, 2019 hc, 2020 tradepaper)

Awards

* James Tiptree, Jr. Award, 1997, ''The Sparrow'' * British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) Best Novel Award, 1998, ''The Sparrow'' (UK edition: Transworld Publishers Black Swan, 1997) *

Arthur C. Clarke Award The Arthur C. Clarke Award is a British award given for the best science fiction novel first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year. It is named after British author Arthur C. Clarke, who gave a grant to establish the award i ...

, 1998, ''The Sparrow'' * John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, 1998, citing ''The Sparrow'' * Gaylactic Spectrum Hall of Fame Award, 2001, ''The Sparrow'' and ''Children of God'' * Kurd Lasswitz Preis (Germany), best foreign novel, 2001, ''The Sparrow''

References

External links

*
Radio interview of Mary Doria Russell
discussing ''Dreamers of the Day'' and more, wit
Richard Wolinsky
on

KPFA KPFA (94.1 FM) is an American listener-funded talk radio and music radio station located in Berkeley, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KPFA airs public news, public affairs, talk, and music programming. The station sig ...

'
''Cover to Cover''
(April 10, 2008)
Public radio interview of Mary Doria Russell and NPR book reviewer Alan Cheuse discussing historical fiction.

WorldCat Identities Page
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Mary Doria 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American paleoanthropologists American historical novelists American science fiction writers American women novelists Former Roman Catholics John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer winners Converts to Judaism from atheism or agnosticism Writers from Chicago 1950 births Living people American writers of Italian descent Jewish American novelists People from Lyndhurst, Ohio University of Michigan alumni Women science fiction and fantasy writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Women historical novelists Novelists from Illinois 21st-century American Jews