Sonya Taaffe is an American author of short fiction and poetry based out of Massachusetts. She grew up in Arlington and Lexington, Massachusetts and graduated from

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...

in 2003 where she received a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

and

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

Classical Studies Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

. She also received an M.A. in Classical Studies from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 2008. Taaffe was first published in 2001, with "Shade and Shadow" in ''Not One of Us'', "Turn of the Century, Jack-in-the-Green" in ''Mythic Delirium'', and "Constellations, Conjunctions" in ''Maelstrom Speculative Fiction''.(30 November 2004
A Conversation with Sonya Taaffe
Matthew Cheney, ''The Mumpsimus'' accessdate=February 2, 2011 Taaffe often writes for the small press magazine ''

Not One of Us ''Not One Of Us'' is a small press horror and science fiction magazine published in Massachusetts, USA, four times a year. The first issue appeared in October 1986. The theme is "people or things out of place in their surroundings": outsiders, ...

'', for whose website she is the contributing editor. She served as a co-editor in the Poetry Department of ''

Strange Horizons ''Strange Horizons'' is an online speculative fiction magazine. It also features speculative poetry and nonfiction in every issue, including reviews, essays, interviews, and roundtables. History and profile It was launched in September 2000, and ...

'' magazine alongside

AJ Odasso AJ Odasso (born 1981) is an American queer, intersex, nonbinary author and poet with a published career dating back to 2005. They are also a six-time Hugo nominee in the Semi-Prozine category in their capacity as Senior Poetry Editor for the spe ...

and Romie Stott until 2016. Taaffe proposed the name

Vanth Vanth is a chthonic figure in Etruscan mythology shown in a variety of forms of funerary art, such as in tomb paintings and on sarcophagi. Vanth is a female demon in the Etruscan underworld that is often accompanied either by additional Vanth fi ...

for the moon of dwarf planet

Orcus Orcus ( la, Orcus) was a god of the underworld, punisher of broken oaths in Etruscan and Roman mythology. As with Hades, the name of the god was also used for the underworld itself. In the later tradition, he was conflated with Dis Pater. A ...

to its discoverer Mike Brown, which was approved by the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...

(IAU).

Influences

Among her influences, Taaffe highlights

Angela Carter Angela Olive Pearce (formerly Carter, Stalker; 7 May 1940 – 16 February 1992), who published under the name Angela Carter, was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism, and picar ...

for impressing her with "language that voluptuous, overblown, and precise all at the same time." She also lists Harlan Ellison, Theodore Sturgeon, Ursula K. Le Guin, Tanith Lee, Patricia McKillip, Susan Cooper, Diana Wynne Jones, Jane Yolen, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Kathe Koja, and Peter Beagle.

Awards

Taaffe's poem "Matlacihuatl's Gift" won the

Rhysling Award __NOTOC__ The Rhysling Awards are an annual award given for the best science fiction, fantasy, or horror poem of the year. Unlike most literary awards, which are named for the creator of the award, the subject of the award, or a noted member of t ...

in 2003, and her poem "Follow Me Home" appeared in ''The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2008: 21st Annual Collection''. Her short story "Retrospective" was shortlisted for the Speculative Literature Foundation's Fountain Award in 2004 and her poem "Muse" placed 2nd for the

Dwarf Stars Award The Dwarf Stars Award is an annual award presented by the Science Fiction Poetry Association to the author of the best horror, fantasy, or science fiction poem of ten lines or fewer published in the previous year. The award was established in 20 ...

in 2008.SFPA Dwarf Stars
accessdate=February 2, 2011 Taaffe's collection ''Forget the Sleepless Shores'' was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in LGBT Speculative Fiction.

Selected bibliography

Poetry

* "Matlacihuatl's Gift" (''Dreams and Nightmares'', Issue 63, 2002) (2003

winner) * "Philon from Ithaka, Theas's Son" (''

Paradox A paradox is a logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary to one's expectation. It is a statement that, despite apparently valid reasoning from true premises, leads to a seemingly self-contradictory or a logically u ...

'', Issue 2, Summer 2003) * '' Postcards from the Province of Hyphens'' (2005,

Prime Books Sean Wallace (born January 1, 1976) is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologist, editor, and publisher best known for founding the publishing house Prime Books and for co-editing three magazines, '' Clarkesworld Magazine'', '' ...

) * "Muse" (''Strange Horizons'', March 12, 2007; 2nd place in the ''2008 Dwarf Stars Anthology'') * ''Postscripts from the Red Sea'', published in a limited, handbound edition by

Papaveria Press Papaveria Press is an independent British publishing house based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. It specializes in special, limited handbound editions and paperbacks in the fields of fairy tale, myth and poetry. History Papaveria Press was fou ...

* "Apotropaism" (''Goblin Fruit'', Winter 2009; featured in the ''2010 Dwarf Stars Anthology'') * "Amal and the Night Visitors" (''Goblin Fruit'', Winter 2009) * "Homeric Hymn to Demophoon" (''Goblin Fruit'', Fall 2009) * "Anthology" (''Cabinet des Fees'', September 2009) * "ὡς πολλοῖς ὄμμασιν εἰς σὲ βλέπω" (''Strange Horizons, November 2009) * "The Gambler" * "Logos" * "Titania's Dream" * "Fasti"

Short fiction

* ''Singing Innocence and Experience'' (a collection, 2005, Prime Books) * ''On the Blindside'' (2005) * ''Forget the Sleepless Shores'' (a collection, finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, 2018, Lethe Press)

References

External links

Sonya Taaffe's DreamwidthSonya Taaffe's LiveJournal
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taaffe, Sonya 21st-century American short story writers American women short story writers American short story writers 21st-century American poets American fantasy writers Brandeis University alumni People from Lexington, Massachusetts Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Women science fiction and fantasy writers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American women poets Rhysling Award for Best Long Poem winners 21st-century American women writers