Sophie Masson is a French-

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

and children's author.

Early life and education

Sophie Masson was born in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

of French parents who are of

mixed ancestry Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...

(French, Basque, Spanish and Portuguese). Masson, the third in a family of seven children, came to Australia at the age of five and spent most of the rest of her childhood shuttling back and forth between Australia and France.

Career

Her first two novels, one for adults entitled ''The House in the Rainforest''; the second, for children, called ''Fire in the Sky'', were published in Australia in 1990. Having written forty books, for children, young adults and adults, she is now published in the UK,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

, France, Indonesia, Poland, Turkey, China, Korea and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

as well as Australia. Many of her novels are in the fantasy genre, but she has also written realistic fiction, as well as crime, mystery and romance. She has also had many short stories, essays, articles and reviews published, in books, magazines, newspapers and internet journals.

Personal life

Masson is married, has three children and lives in northern New South Wales. She has also written books under the pen-names of Isabelle Merlin and Jenna Austen.

Nominations and awards

* 2011:

New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, t ...

Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature for ''The Hunt for Ned Kelly'' * 2005:

Aurealis Award The Aurealis Award for Excellence in Speculative Fiction is an annual literary award for Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction. Only Australians are eligible for the award. History The Aurealis Award was established in 1995 by ...

The YA category for ''The Hand of Glory'' * 2019 Australia Day Honours: made

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Order (distinction), honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of Australia, Queen of Aus ...

(AM) for "significant service to literature as an author and publisher, and through roles with industry organisations." *

for Excellence in Speculative Fiction.

Bibliography

Novels

* * * * * * ''Carabas'' (1996) (US title ''Serafin'') * ''The Hoax'' (1997) * ''The Tiger'' (1998) * ''Red City'' (1998) * ''The First Day'' (2000) * ''The Green Prince'' (2000) * ''The Firebird'' (2001) * '' The Hand of Glory'' (2002) * ''The Tempestuous Voyage of Hopewell Shakespeare'' (2003) * ''In Hollow Lands'' (2004) * ''Snow, Fire, Sword'' (2004) * ''Malvolio's Revenge'' (2005) * ''The Madman of Venice'' (2009) * ''The Hunt for Ned Kelly'' (2010) * ''The Phar Lap Mystery'' (2010) * ''My Father's War'' (2011) * ''The Understudy's Revenge'' (2011) * ''The Boggle Hunters'' (2012) * ''Moonlight and Ashes'' (2012) * ''Ned Kelly's Secret'' (2012) * ''Scarlet in the Snow'' (2013) * ''The Crystal Heart'' (2014) * ''Trinity: The False Prince'' (2015) * ''Hunter's Moon'' (2015) * ''Jack of Spades'' (2017) * ''War and Resistance'' (2019) * ''Four On the Run'' (2020) * ''Four All At Sea(2021)'' * ''The Ghost Squad''(2021) * ''Four Up In Lights'' (2022) * ''A Hundred Words for Butterfly'' (2022) * ''Sydney Under Attack'' (2022) * ''The Key to Rome'' (2023)

Picture books

*''Two Trickster Tales from Russia''( ill. by David Allan, 2013) *''Two Rainbows'' (ill. by Michael McMahon, 2017) *''Building Site Zoo'' (ill. by Laura Wood, 2017) *''Once Upon An ABC'' (ill. by Christopher Nielsen, 2017) *''See Monkey''(ill. by Kathy Creamer, 2018) *''Join the Armidale Parade'' (ill. by Kathy Creamer, 2019) *''There's A Tiger Out There'' (ill. by Ruth Waters, 2019) *''On My Way'' (ill. by Simon Howe, 2019) *''The Snowman's Wish'' (ill. by Ronak Taher, 2020) *''Santagram'' (ill. by Shiloh Gordon, 2020) *''A House of Mud'' (ill. by Katrina Fisher, 2020) *''Cock-a-doodle-doo'' (ill by Kathy Creamer, 2022) *''Satin'' (ill. by Lorena Carrington, 2023)

Lay Lines series

Her Lay Lines trilogy is based on the life and work of the 12th century French poet,

Marie de France Marie de France ( fl. 1160 to 1215) was a poet, possibly born in what is now France, who lived in England during the late 12th century. She lived and wrote at an unknown court, but she and her work were almost certainly known at the royal court ...

, and involves love and magic,

werewolves In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely ...

and fairy lovers. It evokes the medieval world and

world view A worldview or world-view or ''Weltanschauung'' is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the whole of the individual's or society's knowledge, culture, and point of view. A worldview can include natural ...

, notably through the device of the "book within a book". * ''Knight by the Pool'' (1998) * ''The Lady of the Flowers'' (1999) * ''Stone of Oakenfast'' (2000) * ''The Forest of Dreams'' (2001) Omnibus edition

StarMaker series

Her StarMaker trilogy for young adults is a set of unrelated fairytale fantasies set in an historical context. The books are based on

Tattercoats "Tattercoats" is an English fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in his ''More English Fairy Tales''. It is Aarne–Thompson type 510B, the persecuted heroine. Others of this type include " Cap O' Rushes", "Catskin", " Little Cat Skin", "Allerl ...

and '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (''Malkin''),

Sleeping Beauty ''Sleeping Beauty'' (french: La belle au bois dormant, or ''The Beauty in the Sleeping Forest''; german: Dornröschen, or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess cu ...

(''Clementine'') and

Puss in Boots "Puss in Boots" ( it, Il gatto con gli stivali) is an Italian fairy tale, later spread throughout the rest of Europe, about an anthropomorphic cat who uses trickery and deceit to gain power, wealth, and the hand of a princess in marriage for ...

(''Serafin''). * ''Malkin'' (1998) (also published as ''Cold Iron'') * ''Clementine'' (1999) * ''Serafin'' (1999) (also published as ''Carabas'')

Thomas Trew series

Her Thomas Trew series for children is set in the Hidden Land, a

fantasy world A fantasy world is a world created for/from fictional media, such as literature, film or games. Typical fantasy worlds involve magic or magical abilities, nonexistent technology and, sometimes, either a historical or futuristic theme. Some worl ...

of several realms, each dominated by a particular type of mythical being: Middler Land, a mixed collection of magic-using villagers including pixies and werefoxes; Pandemonium, the realm of the brutish Uncouthers; Arkadia, populated by beings from

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

; Montaynard country, land of dwarves and trolls; Oceanopolis, where

selkie In Celtic and Norse mythology, selkies (also spelled ', ', ') or selkie folk ( sco, selkie fowk) meaning 'seal folk' are mythological beings capable of therianthropy, changing from seal to human form by shedding their skin. They are found ...

s and

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes ass ...

s live; Seraphimia in the sky, home of the winged ariels; and the Island of Ghosts, ruled by Mister D, the lord of death. The series was published by Hodder & Stoughton between 2006 and 2008. There are six titles, all illustrated by

Ted Dewan TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depart ...

. *''Thomas Trew and the Hidden People'' (2006) *''Thomas Trew and the Horns of Pan'' (2007) *''Thomas Trew and the Klint-King's Gold'' (2007) *''Thomas Trew and the Selkie's Curse'' (2007) *''Thomas Trew and the Flying Huntsman'' (2007) *''Thomas Trew and the Island of Ghosts'' (2008)

Short stories

* Masson, Sophie, Carrington, Lorena, (2023) ''Secrets of the Good Fairy House'' (Pardalote Press) * Masson, Sophie, Carrington, Lorena (2022) ''Magical Tales from French Camelot'' (Serenity Press) * Masson, Sophie, Carrington, Lorena, (2022) ''Bird's Eye View'' (Pardalote Press) *

Non-fiction

* * * * ''Life, Literature, Legends: Collected Essays 1996–2011'' (2011)

References

External links

* * *
The story behind The Crystal Heart – Essay by Sophie Masson
at Upcoming4.me {{DEFAULTSORT:Masson, Sophie 1959 births Australian fantasy writers Australian children's writers French fantasy writers Australian people of French descent Australian essayists Australian people of Portuguese descent Australian people of Spanish descent Living people People from Jakarta Quadrant (magazine) people French women writers Australian women essayists Australian women children's writers Women science fiction and fantasy writers Members of the Order of Australia People from Armidale