Nancy Farmer

Nancy Farmer (born 1941) is an American writer of children's and young adult books and science fiction. She has written three Newbery Honor books^[1] and won the U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literature for The House of the Scorpion, published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers in 2002.^[2]

Biography

Farmer was born in Phoenix, Arizona. She earned her B.A. at Reed College (1963) and later studied chemistry and entomology at the University of California, Berkeley.^[3] She enlisted in the Peace Corps (1963–1965), and subsequently worked in Mozambique and Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe), where she studied biological methods of controlling the tsetse fly between 1975 and 1978.^[3]

She met her future husband, Harold Farmer, at the University of Rhodesia (now the University of Zimbabwe). They married after a week-long courtship. As of 2010, Farmer lives in Arizona's Chiricahua Mountains with her husband. They have one son, Daniel.^[4]

Bibliography

Novels

• Lorelei: The Story of a Bad Cat (Harare, Zimbabwe: College Press, 1987)
• The Eye, the Ear, and the Arm (College Press, 1989)^[5]
• Tapiwa's Uncle (College Press, 1993)
• Do You Know Me, illustrated by Shelley Jackson (Orchard Books, 1993)
• The Ear, the Eye and the Arm (Orchard, 1994)
• The Warm Place (Orchard, 1995)
• A Girl Named Disaster (Orchard, 1996)
• The House of the Scorpion (Atheneum Books, 2002)
• A New Year's Tale (2013) – paperback and e-book for adults^[6]
• The Lord of Opium (2013) – sequel to The House of the Scorpion

The Sea of Trolls trilogy

• The Sea of Trolls (Atheneum, 2004)
• The Land of the Silver Apples (Atheneum, 2007)
• The Islands of the Blessed (Atheneum, 2009)

Picture books

• Runnery Granary, illus. Jos. A. Smith (Greenwillow Books, 1996) – A Mystery Must Be Solved—Or the Grain is Lost!
• Casey Jones's Fireman: The Story of Sim Webb, illus. James Bernardin (New York: Phyllis Fogelman Books, 1999)
• Clever Ali, illus. Gail De Marcken (Orchard, 2006)

Short stories

• "The Mirror", L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Volume IV (1988), pp. 35–65 – collection of twelve 1987 finalists; "The Mirror" won the grand prize^[7]
• "Tapiwa's Uncle", Cricket (February 1992)
• "Origami Mountain", The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Sixth Annual Collection (1992)
• "Falada: the Goose Girl's Horse", A Wolf At the Door, eds. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (2000)
• "Remember Me", Firebirds: An Anthology of Original Fantasy and Science Fiction, ed. Sharyn November (2003)
• "Bella's Birthday Present", Can You Keep a Secret, ed. Lois Metzger (2007)
• "The Mole Cure", Fantasy and Science Fiction (August 2007)
• "Ticket to Ride", Firebirds Soaring: An Anthology of Original Speculative Fiction, ed. Sharyn November (2008)
• "Castle Othello", Troll's Eye View, eds. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (2009)

Awards

"The Mirror" (1987)

• 1988, Writers of the Future Grand Prize^[7]

The Ear, the Eye and the Arm (1994)

• 1995 Newbery Honor Book (a Newbery Medal runner-up)^[1]
• 1995, Hal Clement Award (Golden Duck Award, Young Adult)^[7]

A Girl Named Disaster (1996)

• 1996, National Book Award (U.S.) finalist, Young People's Literature^[8]
• 1997, Newbery Honor^[1]

The House of the Scorpion (2002)

• 2002, National Book Award for Young People's Literature^[2]
• 2003, Newbery Honor^[1]
• 2003, Buxtehuder Bulle (Germany)
• 2003, Printz Honor

The Land of the Silver Apples (2007)

• 2007, Emperor Norton Award ("extraordinary invention and creativity unhindered by the constraints of paltry reason")^[7]

See also

References

• Farmer. Nancy Farmer's official home page (nancyfarmerwebsite.com). 2008–present. Retrieved 2013-11-23.

External links

• Official website
• Excerpts from a Locus magazine interview with Nancy Farmer
• Nancy Farmer at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Nancy Farmer at LibraryThing