Карен Джой Фаулер: Жизнь и творчество американской писательницы

American writer

Karen Joy Fowler is an American author of science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction. Her work often centers on the nineteenth century, the lives of women, and alienation. She is best known as the author of the best selling novel The Jane Austen Book Club that was made into a movie of the same name.

Fowler was born February 7, 1950, in Bloomington, Indiana, and spent the first eleven years of her life there. Her family then moved to Palo Alto, California. Fowler attended the University of California, Berkeley, and majored in political science. After having a child during the last year of her master's program, she spent seven years devoted to child raising. Feeling restless, Fowler decided to take a dance class, and then a creative writing class at the University of California, Davis. Realizing that she was never going to make it as a dancer, Fowler began to publish science fiction stories, making a name for herself with the short story "Recalling Cinderella" (1985) in L Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 1 (1985) and Artificial Things (1986), a collection of short stories.

Fowler also collaborated with Pat Murphy to found the James Tiptree, Jr. Award in 1991, a literary prize for science fiction or fantasy that "expands or explores our understanding of gender." The prize is named for science fiction author Alice Sheldon who wrote under the pen name James Tiptree, Jr. Fowler drew inspiration not only from Sheldon's work, but also from the fact that Sheldon's mother was an adventurer, going on several trips to Africa including a gorilla hunting expedition in 1920. As such, she serves as the inspiration for the protagonist in Fowler's "What I Didn't See." The award's main focus is to recognize the authors, male or female, who challenge and reflect shifting gender roles.

Her other genre works also tended to focus on odd corners of the nineteenth century experiencing the unexpected or fantastic. Her second novel, The Sweetheart Season (1996) is a romantic comedy infused with historical and fantasy elements. Her 1998 collection, Black Glass, won a World Fantasy Award, and her 2010 collection What I Didn't See, and Other Stories also won a World Fantasy Award. Her 2004 novel The Jane Austen Book Club become a critical and popular success including being on The New York Times bestsellers list. Although it is not a science fiction or fantasy work, science fiction does play an integral part to the novel's plot. Fowler was an instructor at the Clarion Workshop 2007 in San Diego. She was one of the two Guests of Honor at Readercon 2007. In 2008, she won the Nebula Award for the second time for Best Short Story for her 2007 story "Always". Her short story "The Pelican Bar" won a Shirley Jackson Award in 2009 and a World Fantasy Award in 2010. Fowler's novel, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (2013) won the Pen/Faulkner Award for 2014, and has been nominated for a 2014 Nebula Award as well. It was shortlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize. She received a World Fantasy Life Achievement Award at the 2020 convention. Fowler's most recent novel, Booth, was longlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize.

Artificial Things (1986) collection of 13 short stories. Peripheral Vision (1990) collection of 5 stories, 1 original. Author's Choice Monthly #6
Letters from Home (1991) with Pat Cadigan and Pat Murphy. Collection of short fiction by Fowler, Cadigan, and Murphy. Black Glass (1997) collection of 15 short stories, 2 original. Includes the contents from Peripheral Vision and Letters from Home. What I Didn't See and Other Stories (2010) collection of 12 short stories, 1 original.

MOTA 3: Courage (2003) anthology of short fiction. The James Tiptree Award Anthology 1 (2005), with Debbie Notkin, Pat Murphy and Jeffrey D. Smith. Anthology of winners of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. Tachyon Publications. The James Tiptree Award Anthology 2 (2006), with Debbie Notkin, Pat Murphy and Jeffrey D. Smith. Tachyon Publications. The James Tiptree Award Anthology 3 (2007), with Debbie Notkin, Pat Murphy and Jeffrey D. Smith. Tachyon Publications.