Shawna McCarthy

Last updated

Shawna McCarthy
Born1954 (age 6869)
OccupationEditor
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUSA
Alma mater Wilkes College
GenreScience fiction, fantasy
Notable awards1983 Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor
Children1

Shawna Lee McCarthy (born 1954) is an American science fiction and fantasy editor and literary agent.

Contents

McCarthy graduated from the Wilkes University and studied at the American University. [1]

Career

McCarthy edited various magazines for several years, starting as editorial assistant and editor of Firehouse Magazine before working as the managing editor at Asimov's. [2] [3] In 1983, she took over from Kathleen Moloney as the editor-in-chief of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine , a change under which the magazine "acquired an edgier and more literary and experimental tone." [3] [4] During her time at Asimov's, McCarthy edited four anthologies of stories from the magazine (Isaac Asimov's Wonders of the World (1982), Isaac Asimov's Aliens & Outworlders (1983), Isaac Asimov's Space of Her Own (1984) and Isaac Asimov's Fantasy! (1985)), and received the 1984 Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor (she was nominated for this award three times). [5] [6] She left the magazine in 1985 and was succeeded by Gardner Dozois. [3]

After leaving Asimov's, McCarthy became an editor for Bantam in 1985 and co-edited the first two volumes of that publisher's Full Spectrum anthology series with Lou Aronica, et al. [4] Upon leaving Bantam in 1988, she began working as a literary agent, first with Scott Meredith, then with Scovil Chichak Galen, and now as an independent. In addition, she was the fiction editor of Realms of Fantasy magazine from its debut in 1994 until its closure after the October 2011 issue. [7]

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References

  1. "Shawna McCarthy, Editor, Marries Wayne D. Barlowe". The New York Times. June 27, 1983. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
  2. "Shawna McCarthy". readercon.org. Archived from the original on June 29, 2018. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 Williams, Sheila (June 24, 2014). "History of Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine". Asimovs.com. Archived from the original on June 21, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2018. While remaining a welcoming home for new writers, Shawna's Asimov's acquired an edgier and more literary and experimental tone. Shawna published much of Connie Willis's award-winning work as well as stories by Octavia E. Butler, Robert Silverberg, George R. R. Martin, Kim Stanley Robinson, Ursula K. Le Guin, Lucius Shepard, Karen Joy Fowler, John Varley, Nancy Kress, Bruce Sterling, Esther M. Friesner, James Patrick Kelly, Kit Reed, John Kessel, Michael Swanwick, Roger Zelazny, Pat Murphy, Gardner Dozois, and many others. Shawna won a Hugo for Best Professional Editor in 1984
  4. 1 2 Clute, John; Peter Nicolls (1993). Encyclopedia of Science Fiction . New York: St. Martin's Press. pp.  747–748. ISBN   0-312-09618-6.
  5. "The Hugo Awards". World Science Fiction Society. 2010. Archived from the original on April 2, 2019. Retrieved January 25, 2010.
  6. Schweitzer, Darrell (January 27, 2012). "InterGalactic Interview With Shawna McCarthy". Intergalactic. Archived from the original on June 21, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2018. Shawna McCarthy is a former assistant editor and later full editor of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. She also edited books for Bantam-Spectra, and edited the magazine Realms of Fantasy from its beginning in 1994 to its recent demise. She has been nominated for the Hugo for Best Professional Editor three times and won it once. She is active as a literary agent.
  7. "Farewell". Archived from the original on December 15, 2009.