Ursula Vernon (born May 28, 1977) is an American freelance writer, artist and illustrator. She has won numerous awards for her work in various mediums, including the

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier a ...

for her graphic novel '' Digger'', the

Nebula Award The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of profe ...

for her short story " Jackalope Wives", and

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 ...

s for adult and children's literature. Vernon's books for children include ''Hamster Princess'' and ''Dragonbreath''. Under the name T. Kingfisher, she is also the author of books for older audiences. She writes short fiction under both names.

Career

Ursula Vernon grew up in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. She studied

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

Macalester College Macalester College () is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 2,174 students in the fall of 2018 from 50 U.S. states, four U.S te ...

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississip ...

, where she first took art classes. She first became known for her webcomics and as a freelance artist, particularly for her works containing

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

animals. She then moved into writing and illustrating a number of children's books, her first being published in 2008, and then books for adults under the pseudonym T. Kingfisher. She decided to start using the pseudonym in order to avoid confusion amongst parents who were only familiar with her as a children's book author, and chose it because she loves

kingfisher Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...

s (and as an homage to Ursula K. LeGuin, who once joked that the initials "U.K." could stand for "Ulysses Kingfisher). Vernon has published short fiction under both names, and has won a number of awards for them including the

and

. She regularly attends conventions to exhibit and sell her work. She has been a guest of honor at

Midwest FurFest Midwest FurFest (MFF) is a furry convention that takes place in Rosemont, Illinois, usually on the second weekend after Thanksgiving. MFF is an Illinois Educational Not-For-Profit Corporation that exists primarily for the purpose of holding an ann ...

2004 and 2009, and the Artist Guest of Honor at

Further Confusion Further Confusion, or Furcon, is an annual furry convention held in San Jose, California each January, celebrating the anthropomorphics genre or furry fandom, including charitable benefits, educational seminars, art shows, panels and general so ...

2010. Vernon was the Author Guest of Honor for Mythcon 45 and a Guest of Honor at

Eurofurence Eurofurence (commonly abbreviated EF) is a furry convention held in changing places in Europe every year (in Berlin, Germany since 2014 and will remain there for the time being). It was originally started in 1995 as a private gathering by ninet ...

20, both in August 2014. In 2017, she was the Author Guest of Honor at

Arisia Arisia is a Boston-area, volunteer-run science fiction convention, named for a planet in the Lensman novels by E. E. "Doc" Smith. The name was chosen in response to an older Boston-area con, Boskone, which took the typical ending for a conve ...

'17. Vernon podcasts with her husband, Kevin Sonney.

Works

Books for younger audiences

Vernon is the author and illustrator of the ''Dragonbreath'' and ''Hamster Princess'' children's book series, published by Dial Books:

Dragonbreath series

Hamster Princess series

Other children's books

* ''Nurk: The Strange Surprising Adventures Of A (Somewhat) Brave Shrew'' () was published by Harcourt in 2008 and released as an

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sc ...

in 2009. It was Vernon's first published children's book. * ''Castle Hangnail'' () (April 21, 2015) Dial Books

Books for older audiences

The following books were written as Ursula Vernon and published by Sofawolf Press.

Temple of the White Rat books

The following books were written under the name T. Kingfisher and take place in what Vernon calls "the Temple of the White Rat world."

Other books for older audiences

The following books were also written under the name T. Kingfisher.

Webcomics

Vernon is the author of the

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

-nominated and

-winning webcomic '' Digger''. A fantasy story featuring an anthropomorphic

wombat Wombats are short-legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupials that are native to Australia. They are about in length with small, stubby tails and weigh between . All three of the extant species are members of the family Vombatidae. They are adap ...

, it is also available in six paperback books published between 2005 and 2011: Vol. 1 (), Vol. 2 (), Vol. 3 (), Vol. 4 (), Vol. 5 (), and Vol. 6 (), and as ''Digger: The Complete Omnibus Edition'' (), published in 2013. She is also the writer and illustrator of the webcomic ''Irrational Fears'' and the short stories "Little Creature" and "Little Creature and the Redcap".

Illustrations and art

Before becoming a published children's book author Vernon was primarily a freelance artist and illustrator, and she still regularly produces new works of art. Her work includes the creation of

digital art Digital art refers to any artistic work or practice that uses digital technology as part of the creative or presentation process, or more specifically computational art that uses and engages with digital media. Since the 1960s, various names ...

as well as the use of more traditional mediums such as

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

and acrylics, with much of her more recent work being

mixed media In visual art, mixed media describes artwork in which more than one medium or material has been employed. Assemblages, collages, and sculpture are three common examples of art using different media. Materials used to create mixed media art incl ...

. Most of her art work is available as prints. Vernon has also taken commercial commissions such as book covers and game art. The game ''Black Sheep'' designed by

Reiner Knizia Reiner may refer to: *Reiner (crater), a crater on the Moon, named after Vincentio Reiner *Reiner Braun, a fictional List_of_Attack_on_Titan_characters, character in the anime/manga series ''Attack on Titan'' People with the given name Reiner *Rein ...

and published by

Fantasy Flight Games Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) is a game company based in Roseville, Minnesota, United States, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, card, and dice games. As of 2014, it is a subsidiary of Asmodée Éditions. History Fantasy Flight Publish ...

uses art by Vernon on its playing cards. Her artwork titled ''The Biting Pear of Salamanca'' became an

internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

in the form of the "LOL WUT pear" and has been made into a

resin In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on natu ...

figurine A figurine (a diminutive form of the word ''figure'') or statuette is a small, three-dimensional sculpture that represents a human, deity or animal, or, in practice, a pair or small group of them. Figurines have been made in many media, with cl ...

due to its popularity. She has also designed labels for a series of tea and soap products.

Awards and nominations

Vernon has also received the following accolades: * Her cover for '' Best in Show'' won the 2003 Ursa Major Award for ''Best Anthropomorphic Published Illustration''. * For her work on '' Digger'', Vernon was nominated for the 2006

s in the category "Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition", and won the 2005

Web Cartoonists' Choice Award The Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards (WCCA) were annual awards in which established webcartoonists nominated and selected outstanding webcomics. The awards were held between 2001 and 2008, were mentioned in a ''The New York Times'' column on webco ...

for "Outstanding Black and White Art". '' Digger'' has also been nominated in the "Outstanding Anthropomorphic Comic" category. * " Jackalope Wives" (2014), " The Tomato Thief" (2016) and "Metal Like Blood in the Dark" (2020) won the

WSFA Small Press Award The WSFA Small Press Award was inaugurated by the Washington Science Fiction Association in 2007. The award is open to works of imaginative literature (e.g. science fiction, fantasy, horror) published in English for the first time in the previous ...

Notes

References

External links

Personal websites *
RedWombatStudio.com
art website
Bark Like a Fish, Damnit!
public

Livejournal LiveJournal (russian: Живой Журнал), stylised as LiVEJOURNAL, is a Russian-owned social networking service where users can keep a blog, journal, or diary. American programmer Brad Fitzpatrick started LiveJournal on April 15, 1999, as ...

blog (last updated 2017)
''Digger'' webcomic
Socials *
Ursula Vernon
at

Goodreads Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and read ...

UrsulaV
Ursula Vernon's

deviantART DeviantArt (historically stylized as deviantART) is an American online art community that features artwork, videography and photography, launched on August 7, 2000 by Angelo Sotira, Scott Jarkoff, and Matthew Stephens among others. DeviantArt, ...

page Catalogs * *
Ursula Vernon
at Fantastic Fiction

accessed Mar 4, 2022 Publishers
Ursula Vernon
at Penguin Random
Ursula Vernon
at

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

Ursula Vernon
on '' Uncanny Mag''
Ursula Vernon
on

Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or rush ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vernon, Ursula 1977 births 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers American comic strip cartoonists American children's writers American fantasy writers American female comics artists American graphic novelists American women novelists American webcomic creators Female comics writers Furry fandom people Hugo Award-winning writers Living people Nebula Award winners Macalester College alumni Women science fiction and fantasy writers