Instructors for 2010
Our instructors for the 2010 Clarion West Writers Workshop are Michael Bishop, Maureen McHugh, Nnedi Okorafor, Graham Joyce, Ellen Datlow, and Ian McDonald, the 2010 Susan C. Petrey Fellow.
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Michael Bishop's characters are compassionately drawn, his prose elegant and poetic, and his subject matter always thought-provoking. He seeks to humanize the alien, to tackle political controversies, to explore the mythic, and delivers the results in his unflinchingly honest and sometimes satirical voice. The recipient of multiple Hugo nominations, Bishop has won two Nebula and four Locus awards. |
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Maureen McHugh's work is scientifically plausible, yet characterized by unpredictability, the subversion of genre conventions, and intense emotions simply expressed. In addition to her fiction, McHugh writes and edits alternate reality games. Her first novel, China Mountain Zhang, won the Tiptree and Lambda awards; her story “The Lincoln Train” won the Hugo; and her newest collection, Mothers and Other Monsters, was a Story Prize finalist. |
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Nnedi Okorafor blends science fiction, fantasy, and Nigerian culture into optimistic, vividly original stories and novels that dare to envision adult and children's literature anew. Her first book, Zahrah the Windseeker, won the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa and was shortlisted for the Carl Brandon Parallax and Kindred Awards. She is a professor of creative writing at Chicago State University. |
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Graham Joyce, a novelist and short story writer living in Leicester, England, is a recipient of the World Fantasy Award and a four-time winner of the British Fantasy Society Award. Joyce's fiction embodies a strong sense of place and a fascination with myth, the supernatural, and family history. It has been called mesmerizing, disturbing, and addictive. Joyce teaches creative writing at Nottingham Trent University. |
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Ellen Datlow is arguably the finest editor of short fiction at work in the field today. She has been the fiction editor of Omni Magazine and numerous anthologies, and the co-editor of more than twenty volumes of The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. Datlow has taught Clarion West several times. She has received multiple Hugo, World Fantasy, and Bram Stoker awards, including the 2009 Hugo for Best Editor Short Form. |
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Ian McDonald uses richly detailed Asian, African, and South American settings to illuminate the contradictions implicit in colonialism and rapid technological development, while telling epic tales of human struggle and redemption. His cyberpunk-tinged stories of artificial intelligence, delicious nanotech recipes, and virtual life and death win him prestigious awards and international acclaim. McDonald is the 2010 Susan C. Petrey Fellow. |
Find out more about the Clarion West Writers Workshop here.
Photo of Michael Bishop, copyright 2005 Jeri Bishop; used with permission. Photo of Maureen McHugh, copyright 2009 Bob Yeager; used with permission. Photo of Nnedi Okorafor, copyright 2009 Ifeoma Okorafor; used with permission. Photo of Graham Joyce, copyright 2008 Leslie Howle; used with permission. Photo of Ellen Datlow, copyright 2007 Lori Datlow; used with permission. Photo of Ian McDonald, copyright 2001 Karine Stephan; used with permission.
