Eileen Kernaghan

The author, Eileen Kernaghan, stands smiling in front of an abstract painting at the launch of her book Sophie, In Shadow.

Eileen Kernaghan (born January 6, 1939) is a Canadian novelist, poet, and four-time winner of the Prix Aurora Award for English-language Canadian speculative fiction. The settings of her historical fantasy novels range from the prehistoric Indus Valley and eighteenth century Bhutan, to Elizabethan England and nineteenth century Scandinavia. She lives on Saltspring Island, British Columbia. ^[1]

Biography

Eileen Kernaghan grew up on a dairy farm outside Grindrod, B.C., Canada, ^[2] population 600. The reading material she found on the family shelves - Greek myths, historical novels, G. A. Henty's boys' adventure books, a collection of Weird Tales and Thrilling Wonder Stories - helped to shape her writing career.

Her first published story, written at the age of twelve, appeared in the Vancouver Sun newspaper. It earned her a byline, an illustration, and a check for $12.65. Her next appearance in print, twenty years later, was with a cover story in the New York science fiction magazine Galaxy. She went on to write the "Grey Isles" series, a Bronze Age trilogy based on the origins of Stonehenge. ^[3] Journey to Aprilioth, Songs from the Drowned Lands and The Sarsen Witch were published by Ace Books during the 1980s. Kernaghan was nominated eleven times for Canadian science fiction and fantasy awards, nine Auroras and two Sunburst Awards, winning Aurora Awards for the following titles:

1985: Songs from the Drowned Lands (Ace) — novel

1990: “Carpe Diem” (On Spec Fall 1989) — short-form, English

2001: The Snow Queen (Thistledown Press) — long-form work in English

2014: “Night Journey: West Coast ” (Tesseracts Seventeen) — poem/song in English

As for her day jobs, they've included elementary school teaching, arts administration, operating a used bookstore with her husband Pat, and, for many years, teaching creative writing at Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in Burnaby, and Port Moody's Kyle Centre. ^[4] She has three adult children and four grandchildren.

Cover of book, Tales from the Holograph Woods - Speculative Poetry by Eileen Kernaghan

Bibliography

• The Grey Isles sequence:
  • Journey to Aprilioth (1980). New York: Ace. ISBN   978-0-441-38621-5.
  • Songs from the Drowned Lands (1983). New York: Ace. ISBN   978-0-441-77242-1.
  • The Sarsen Witch (1989). New York: Ace. ISBN   978-0-441-75052-8.
• Dance of the Snow Dragon (1995). Saskatoon, Sask: Thistledown Press. ISBN   978-1-895449-41-9.
• The Snow Queen (2000). Saskatoon, Sask: Thistledown Press. ISBN   978-1-894345-14-9.
• The Alchemist's Daughter (2004). Saskatoon, Sask: Thistledown Press. ISBN   978-1-894345-79-8.
• Winter on the Plain of Ghosts: a novel of Mohenjo-daro (2004). New Westminster, BC: Flying Monkey Press. ISBN   978-0-9734012-0-2.
• Wild Talent: A Novel of the Supernatural (2008). Historical fantasy: YA age 14+. Thistledown Press. ISBN   1-897235-40-2 ISBN   978-1-897235-40-9.
• Tales from the Holograph Woods: Speculative Poetry (2009). Wattle and Daub Books. ISBN   978-0981065823
• Dragon-Rain and Other Stories (Kindle Edition) (2013) Neville Books/Flying Monkey Press. Dragon Rain and Other Stories at Amazon.com
• Sophie, in Shadow (2014). Historical fantasy: YA age 14+. Thistledown Press. ISBN   978-1-927068-94-6.

References

1. "Member Profile".
2. Anderson, Colleen; Vernon, Steve (2013-10-15). Tesseracts Seventeen: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast to Coast. ISBN   9781770530454.
3. "The Sarsen Witch".
4. "Speculative fiction for Wordsmiths in Port Coquitlam". 18 May 2016.

Sources

• "KERNAGHAN, Eileen". Author Bank. BC BookWorld. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
• Wolf, C. June (2005-03-28). "Interview: Eileen Kernaghan, Poet and Novelist". Strange Horizons. Archived from the original on 2007-11-13. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
• Schellenberg, James; David M. Switzer (2006-03-10). "Interview with Eileen Kernaghan". Challenging Destiny . Retrieved 2007-10-30.
• "Eileen Kernaghan - Summary Bibliography". isfdb.org. ISFDB. Retrieved 2007-10-30.

External links

• Eileen Kernaghan's blog
• Eileen Kernaghan at Library of Congress , with 8library catalogue records
• Eileen Kernaghan at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Strange Horizons interview of Kernaghan (2005; archived 2007)
• Review of Dragon-Rain and Other Stories by R. Graeme Cameron, Amazing Stories, August 2020
• "Eileen Kernaghan: Wild Talent & Fine Friend,” by Casey Wolf. Portable Storage Nine, edited by William M. Breiding (2023).