Terri Windling (born December 3, 1958 in

Fort Dix, New Jersey Fort Dix, the common name for the Army Support Activity (ASA) located at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, is a United States Army post. It is located south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. Fort Dix is under the jurisdiction of the Air Force A ...

) is an American

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

essayist An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

, and the author of books for both children and adults. She has won nine

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

, the

Mythopoeic Fantasy Award The Mythopoeic Awards for literature and literary studies are given annually for outstanding works in the fields of myth, fantasy, and the scholarly study of these areas. Established by the Mythopoeic Society in 1971, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Awar ...

, and the

Bram Stoker Award The Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented annually by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in dark fantasy and horror writing. History The Awards were established in 1987 and have been presented annually since 1 ...

, and her collection ''The Armless Maiden'' appeared on the short-list for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. In 2010, Windling received the SFWA Solstice Award, which honors "individuals with a significant impact on the speculative fiction field". Her work has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Italian, Czech, Lithuanian, Turkish, Russian, Japanese, and Korean.

Early life

Terri Windling was born on December 3, 1958 in Fort Dix, New Jersey. She was raised in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. She attended

Antioch College Antioch College is a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1852 as a non-sectarian institution; politician and education reformer Horace Mann was its f ...

, graduating in 1979. After college, she moved to New York and worked in publishing as an editor and an artist.

Career

Writing

In the American publishing field, Windling has been one of the primary creative forces behind the

mythic fiction Mythic fiction is literature that is rooted in, inspired by, or that in some way draws from the tropes, themes, and symbolism of myth, legend, folklore, and fairy tales. The term is widely credited to Charles de Lint and Terri Windling. Mythic ...

resurgence that began in the early 1980s, through her work as an innovative editor for the

Ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the c ...

and

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese scien ...

fantasy lines and as the editor of more than thirty anthologies of magical fiction. She created the Fairy Tale Series. Retrieved 2020-03-15. of novels that reinterpret classic

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

s. She is also recognized as one of the founders of

urban fantasy Urban fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy which places imaginary and unreal elements in an approximation of a contemporary urban setting. The combination provides the writer with quixotic plot-drivers, unusual character traits, and a platform for c ...

, having published and promoted the first novels of

Charles de Lint Charles de Lint (born December 22, 1951) is a Canadian writer of Dutch, Spanish, and Japanese ancestry. He is married to, and plays music with, MaryAnn Harris. Primarily a writer of fantasy fiction, he has composed works of urban fantasy, cont ...

Emma Bull Emma Bull (born December 13, 1954) is an American science fiction and fantasy author. Her novels include the Hugo- and Nebula-nominated '' Bone Dance'' and the urban fantasy '' War for the Oaks''. She is also known for a series of anthologies ...

, and other pioneers of the genre., pp. 148, 237, 333. With

Ellen Datlow Ellen Datlow (born December 31, 1949) is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror editor and anthologist. She is a winner of the World Fantasy Award and the Bram Stoker Award (Horror Writers Association). Career Datlow began her career ...

, Windling edited 16 volumes of ''

Year's Best Fantasy and Horror ''Year's Best Fantasy and Horror'' was a reprint anthology published annually by St. Martin's Press from 1987 to 2008. In addition to the short stories, supplemented by a list of honorable mentions, each edition included a number of retrospective ...

'' (1986–2003), an anthology that reached beyond the boundaries of

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), 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 ...

to incorporate magic realism, surrealism, poetry, and other forms of magical literature. Datlow and Windling also edited the '' Snow White, Blood Red'' series of literary fairy tales for adult readers, as well as many anthologies of myth & fairy tale inspired fiction for younger readers, such as '' The Green Man'', ''The Faery Reel'', and ''The Wolf at the Door''. Windling also created and edited the '' Borderland'' series for teenage readers, and ''The Armless Maiden'', a fiction collection for adult survivors of

child abuse Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical, sexual, and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child or children, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to a ...

like herself.Clute (1995), p. 251. As an author, Windling's fiction includes ''

The Wood Wife ''The Wood Wife'' is a novel by American writer Terri Windling, published by Tor Books in 1996. It won the Mythopoeic Award for Novel of the Year. It is Windling's first novel; she is better known as a longtime editor of fantasy and speculative f ...

'' (winner of the Mythopoeic Award for Novel of the Year) and several children's books: ''The Raven Queen'', ''The Changeling'', ''A Midsummer Night's Faery Tale'', ''The Winter Child'', and ''The Faeries of Spring Cottage''. Her essays on myth, folklore, magical literature and art have been widely published in newsstand magazines, academic journals, art books, and anthologies. She was a contributor to ''The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales'', edited by

Jack Zipes Jack David Zipes (born June 7, 1937) is a professor emeritus of German, comparative literature, and cultural studies, who has published and lectured on German literature, critical theory, German Jewish culture, children's literature, and folklore. ...

. In May 2016, Windling gave the fourth annual

Tolkien Lecture The J.R.R. Tolkien Lecture on Fantasy Literature is a free public lecture delivered annually at Pembroke College, Oxford University. The series was founded by Pembroke postgraduate students Will Badger and Gabriel Schenk in memory of J.R.R. Tol ...

Pembroke College, Oxford Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located at Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale, and was named after ...

, speaking on the topic of fantasy literature in the post-Tolkien era. In 2020, she announced the establishment of a publishing company, Bumblehill Press.

Art

As an artist, Windling specializes in work inspired by

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

, and fairy tales. Her art has been exhibited across the US, as well as in the UK and France. Windling is the founder of the

Endicott Studio Endicott Studio (also known as the Endicott Studio for Mythic Arts) was a nonprofit organization, based in the United States and United Kingdom, that is dedicated to literary, visual, and performance arts inspired by myth, folklore, fairy tales ...

, an organization dedicated to myth-inspired arts, and was the co-editor with

Midori Snyder Midori Snyder is an American writer of fantasy, mythic fiction, and nonfiction on myth and folklore. She has published eight novels for children and adults, winning the Mythopoeic Award for ''The Innamorati''. Her work has been translated into F ...

of ''The Journal of Mythic Arts'' from 1987 until it ceased publication in 2008. She also sits on the board of the

Mythic Imagination Institute The Mythic Imagination Institute is a non-profit organization based in Atlanta, Georgia, whose purpose is to encourage a creative response to life, both individual and collective, through storytelling and mythology: "Every life is a story, and a sto ...

Personal life

In September 2008, Windling married Howard Gayton, a British dramatist and co-founder of the Ophaboom Theatre Company, a

Commedia dell'arte (; ; ) was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is also known as , , and . Charact ...

troupe. Since the early 1990s she has resided in

Devon, England Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon i ...

; she divided her time between there and

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

for many years. Windling is a close friend and neighbor of artists

Wendy Wendy is a given name now generally given to girls in English-speaking countries. In Britain, Wendy appeared as a masculine name in a parish record in 1615. It was also used as a surname in Britain from at least the 17th century. Its popularity ...

and

Brian Froud Brian Froud (born 1947) is an English fantasy illustrator and conceptual designer. He is most widely known for his 1978 book ''Faeries (book), Faeries'' with Alan Lee (illustrator), Alan Lee, and as the conceptual designer of the Jim Henson fil ...

, and has collaborated with them on several projects.

Works

Fiction

* "The Green Children", ''The Armless Maiden'', Tor Books, 1995 * ''

'', Tor Books, 1996 (winner of the

Mythopoeic Award The Mythopoeic Awards for literature and literary studies are given annually for outstanding works in the fields of myth, fantasy, and the scholarly study of these areas. Established by the Mythopoeic Society in 1971, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Awa ...

) * "The Color of Angels", ''The Horns of Elfland'', New American Library, 1997 * ''The Raven Queen'', with

Ellen Steiber Ellen Steiber is an American novelist and author of books for young readers, including some based on single episodes of ''The X-Files'' and ''Full House'' series. Background Steiber was raised in Newark and West Orange, New Jersey. She went ...

, Random House, 1999 * ''The Changeling'', Random House, 1995 * The Old Oak Wood Series, Simon & Schuster, illustrated by

Wendy Froud Wendy Froud (''née'' Midener; born 1954) is an American doll-artist, sculptor, puppet-maker, and writer. She is best known for her work fabricating Yoda for the 1980 film '' Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back'', for which she has been called "th ...

** ''A Midsummer Night's Faery Tale'', 1999 ** ''The Winter Child'', 2000 ** ''The Faeries of Spring Cottage'', 2001 * "Red Rock", ''Century Magazine'', 2000 * ''The Moon Wife'', Tor Books, forthcoming * ''Little Owl'', Viking, forthcoming

Nonfiction

* "Surviving Childhood", ''The Armless Maiden'', Tor Books, 1995 * "Transformations", ''Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales'' (Expanded Edition), Anchor, 1998 * Co-writer and editor of ''Brian Froud's Good Faeries/Bad Faeries'', Simon & Schuster, 2000 * "On Tolkien and Fairy Stories", ''Meditations on Middle-Earth'', St. Martin's Press, 2001 * Contributing writer to ''The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales'', edited by Jack Zipes, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002 * Contributing writer to ''Fées, elfes, dragons & autres créatures des royaumes de féerie'', edited by Claudine Glot and Michel Le Bris, Hoëbeke, France, 2004 * Contributing writer to ''Panorama illustré de la fantasy & du merveilleux'', edited by André-François Ruaud, Les Moutons Electriques, France 2004 * Numerous articles on myth and mythic arts for ''

Realms of Fantasy ''Realms of Fantasy'' was a professional bimonthly fantasy speculative fiction magazine published by Sovereign Media, then Tir Na Nog Press, and Damnation Books, which specialized in fantasy fiction (including some horror), related nonfiction (wit ...

'' magazine and the '' Journal of Mythic Arts'', 1992–2008

Anthologies

* ''Elsewhere, Volumes I–III'', edited with Mark Alan Arnold, Ace Books, 1981–1983 (winner of the World Fantasy Award for Volume I) *'' Faery'', Ace Books, 1985 (World Fantasy Award nominee) *

series, with

, 1986–2003 (winner of three World Fantasy Awards and the Bram Stoker Award) * Snow White, Blood Red series, with Ellen Datlow **'' Snow White, Blood Red'', Morrow/Avon, 1993 (World Fantasy Award nominee) **'' Black Thorn, White Rose'', Morrow/Avon, 1994; Prime Books, 2007 **'' Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears'', Morrow/Avon, 1995; Prime Books 2008 **''Black Swan, White Raven'', Avon Books, 1997; Prime Books, 2008 **'' Silver Birch, Blood Moon'', Avon Books, 1999 (winner of the World Fantasy Award) **''Black Heart, Ivory Bones'', Avon Books, 2000 *''Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers'', with Ellen Datlow, HarperPrism, 1998; Avon, 2002 * '' The Armless Maiden and Other Tales for Childhood's Survivors'', Tor Books, 1995 ( James Tiptree, Jr. Award shortlist) * Retold Fairy Tales series, with Ellen Datlow (for Middle Grade readers) **''A Wolf at the Door and Other Retold Fairy Tales'', Simon & Schuster, 2000 **''Swan Sister: Fairy Tales Retold'', Simon & Schuster, 2002 **''Troll's Eye View and Other Villainous Tales'', Viking, 2009 * Mythic Fiction series, with

, illustrated by Charles Vess (for Young Adult readers) **''The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest'', Viking, 2002 (winner of the World Fantasy Award) **''The Faery Reel: Tales From the Twilight Realm'', Viking, 2004 (World Fantasy Award nominee) **''The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales'', Viking, 2007 (World Fantasy Award nominee) **''The Beastly Bride: Tales of the Animal People'', Viking, 2010 *''Salon Fantastique'' with Ellen Datlow, Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006 (winner of the World Fantasy Award) *''Teeth'' with Ellen Datlow, HarperCollins, 2011 *''After'' with Ellen Datlow, Disney/Hyperion, forthcoming 2012 *''Queen Victoria's Book of Spells'' with Ellen Datlow, Tor Books, forthcoming 2013

Series edited

* The Fairy Tale Series, created with artist Thomas Canty, Ace Books and Tor Books, 1986 to present – novels that retell and reinterpret traditional fairy tales; by Steven Brust,

Pamela Dean Pamela Collins Dean Dyer-Bennet (born 1953), better known as Pamela Dean, is an American fantasy author whose best-known book is ''Tam Lin'', based on the Child Ballad of the same name, in which the Scottish fairy story is set on a midwestern ...

, Charles de Lint,

Tanith Lee Tanith Lee (19 September 1947 – 24 May 2015) was a British science fiction and fantasy writer. She wrote more than 90 novels and 300 short stories, and was the winner of multiple World Fantasy Society Derleth Awards, the World Fantasy Lifetime ...

Patricia C. Wrede Patricia Collins Wrede (; born March 27, 1953) is an American author of fantasy literature. She is known for her ''Enchanted Forest Chronicles'' series for young adults, which was voted number 84 in NPR's 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels list. Caree ...

Jane Yolen Jane Hyatt Yolen (born February 11, 1939) is an American writer of fantasy, science fiction, and children's books. She is the author or editor of more than 350 books, of which the best known is '' The Devil's Arithmetic'', a Holocaust novella. H ...

, and others * Brian Froud's Faerielands, Bantam Books, 1994 – contemporary fantasy novellas by Charles de Lint and

Patricia A. McKillip Patricia Anne McKillip (February 29, 1948 – May 6, 2022) was an American author of fantasy and science fiction. She has been called "one of the most accomplished prose stylists in the fantasy genre", and wrote predominantly standalone fantasy n ...

, illustrated by Brian Froud *

The Borderland Series The ''Borderland'' series of urban fantasy novels and stories were created for teenage readers by author Terri Windling. Most of the series is set in Bordertown, a dystopian city near the border between "the Elflands" and "The World". The series ...

, New American Library, Tor Books, Harper Prism, 1985 to present The latter Young Adult shared-world series features the intersection of Elfland and human lands, which is generally populated by teenagers, runaways, and exiles. Primary series writers are

Ellen Kushner Ellen Kushner (born October 6, 1955) is an American writer of fantasy novels. From 1996 until 2010, she was the host of the radio program '' Sound & Spirit'', produced by WGBH in Boston and distributed by Public Radio International. Backgroun ...

, Charles de Lint,

, and Will Shetterly. The series consists of five anthologies and three novels to date.

References

Other sources

Terri Windling
at the

Internet Book List The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

* * by Julie Bartel, ''The Journal of Mythic Arts'', 2005
Terri Windling interview
in

Locus Magazine ''Locus: The Magazine of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field'', founded in 1968, is an American magazine published monthly in Oakland, California. It is the news organ and trade journal for the English-language science fiction and fantasy (genre ...

, October 2003 * Zipes, Jack (2000), ''The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales'', Oxford:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, * de Vos, Gail, and Altmann, Anna E. (1999),'' New Tales for Old: Folktales as Literary Fictions for Young Adults'', CT: Libraries Unlimited/The Greenwood Publishing Group,
"Into the Woods: The Faery Worlds of Terri Windling"
by

Donald G. Keller Donald G. Keller (born 1951) is a science fiction and fantasy editor and critic. He was the co-founder of Serconia Press and was Managing Editor and a frequent contributor to ''The New York Review of Science Fiction'' (1990-1995), where his semin ...

, Legends Magazine, February 1998
SFWA.org
SFWA Announces 2010 Solstice Award Honorees, SFWA website, May 2010

External links

* * *
The Journal of Mythic Arts
by Niko Sylvester, Mythic Passages Sept–Oct 2003

by Helen Pilinovsky (examines the Donkeyskin fairy tale in fiction by

Robin McKinley Robin McKinley (born November 16, 1952) is an American author best known for her fantasy novels and fairy tale retellings. Her 1984 novel ''The Hero and the Crown'' won the Newbery Medal as the year's best new American children's book. In 2022 ...

, and Terri Windling), ''Realms of Fantasy'' magazine, 2001, and ''The Journal of Mythic Arts'', 2005
Windling interview in ActuSF
French online sf magazine, 2011 *
The Wood Wife – Q&A with Terri Windling (March 27 – April 3, 2010)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Windling, Terri 1958 births Living people American fantasy writers American online publication editors Antioch College alumni 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Women science fiction and fantasy writers World Fantasy Award-winning writers American women novelists Women speculative fiction editors