Charles de
Lint is credited as having pioneered the contemporary fantasy genre. His
ground-breaking 1984 urban fantasy novel, Moonheart, remains in
print to this day, and enjoys the privilege of being Tor's best-selling trade
paperback for their Orb line.
With 60
books published to date (not including foreign editions and reprints), he has
gained a reputation as a master in his field. Charles de Lint has been aptly
described as a romantic, a believer
in human potential.
It's hard not to feel encouraged to be a better person after reading a book by Ottawa's
Charles de Lint.
—The Halifax Chronicle Herald
De
Lint's greatest skill is his human focus—the mythic elements never overshadow
his intimate study of character. To read de Lint is to fall under the spell of
a master storyteller, to be reminded of the greatness of life, of the beauty
and majesty lurking in shadows and empty doorways.
—Quill & Quire
De Lint says he hopes his
stories will encourage people to "pay attention to how many special things
there are in the real world." He regards his greatest artistic achievement
as "the moment when a reader tells me that something I've written has
inspired them to go out and create something of their own. Or that the story
has helped them through a difficult time or prompted them to help others."
De Lint's dedicated readership gave him the singular honor of having eight books chosen for
the reader-selected Modern Library Top 100 Books of the Twentieth
Century poll, conducted online by Random House. His latest novel, Widdershins,
placed first on Amazon.com's Editors'
Picks—Top 10 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books of 2006. He's
been a finalist 17 times over
for the World Fantasy Award, and won in October 2000 for his short story
collection Moonlight and Vines. These stories (and most of his recent
novels) are set in de Lint's acclaimed fictional city Newford.
Welcome to the music clubs, the waterfront, the
alleyways where ancient myths and magic spill into the modern world. Come meet
Jilly, painting wonders in the rough city streets, and Geordie, playing fiddle
while he dreams of a ghost, and the Angel of Grasso Street, gathering the fey
and the wild and poor and the lost.
—Tor Books
Newford
is sometimes more real to me than any other place I've been. The city itself
possesses character, spirit, and an identity.
—Rambles
Part of the beauty of Newford is the sense that
it has always been there, that de Lint is a reporter who occasionally files
stories from a reality stranger and more beautiful than ours. De Lint also
manages to keep each new Newford story fresh and captivating because he is so
generous and loving in his depiction of the characters. Yes, there is group of
core characters whose stories recur most often, but a city like Newford has so
many intriguing people in it, so many diverse stories to tell, so much pain and
triumph to chronicle.
—Challenging Destiny
De Lint has garnered several other awards and
honours for his fiction, including the 1984 William L. Crawford Award for
Best New Fantasy Author (International Association for the Fantastic in the
Arts) for his novel Moonheart; and the 1988 Canadian SF/Fantasy
Award, the Aurora, for his novel Jack the Giant-Killer.
While most of
de Lint's fiction has been aimed toward adults, he's also written prize-winning
books for young people. His novel The Blue Girl (2004) won both the Ontario Library Association's White
Pine Award and Michigan's Great Lakes Great Books Award (for grades 9-12). The Blue Girl was also named an
American Library Association Best
Book for Young Adults, and
is currently a finalist for Arizona's Grand
Canyon Reader Award (teen category),
to be announced in 2008.
Waifs and Strays, a young adult
collection published by Viking, was named
one of the Top 10 YA Fantasy Books of 2002 by Booklist (American Library
Association) and was also a
finalist for the World Fantasy Award.
His novella Seven Wild Sisters, illustrated by acclaimed artist Charles Vess, received a 2003 YALSA Award in
the Best Book for Young Adults category from the American Library Association, and
was also a finalist for the World Fantasy Award.
His omnibus The Jack of Kinrowan was chosen for the 2003 YALSA Popular Paperbacks list
for young adults.
De Lint has
also written children's literature, with A Circle of Cats,
published as a full-colour picture book published by Viking in
2003, also lavishly illustrated by Charles Vess.
His non-fiction has included entries to encyclopedias, critical
essays, book reviews, music reviews and opinion columns. A respected critic in
his field, de Lint is currently the primary book reviewer for The
Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. He's also been a judge for
several prominent awards, including the Nebula Award, the World
Fantasy Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Award and the Bram Stoker
Award.
De Lint has
taught creative writing workshops in Canada and the United States, and served
as writer‑in‑residence for two public libraries in Ottawa.
He's also
been a professional musician for over 25 years, writing original songs and
performing traditional and contemporary music with his wife, MaryAnn. His main
instruments are flute, fiddle, whistles, vocals and guitar, while MaryAnn's are
mandolin, guitar, vocals and bodhran (Irish drum).
![[logo: Charles de Lint]](images/cdl_logo01.gif){kind=logo}
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