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{{Short description|American fantasy writer}}
'''Robin McKinley''' (born [[November 16]], [[1952]] as '''Jennifer Carolyn Robin Turrell McKinley''') is a [[fantasy]] [[author]] especially known for her [[Newbery Medal]]-winning [[novel]] ''[[The Hero and the Crown]]''. She has also won a [[Newbery Honor]] for ''[[The Blue Sword]]'', the [[Mythopoeic Award]] for ''[[Sunshine (book)|Sunshine]]'', the [[World Fantasy Award]] for ''Imaginary Lands'', and the 1998 [[Phoenix Award]] honor book for ''[[Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast]]''.
{{use mdy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Robin McKinley
| image = Robin McKinley (2023).jpg
| imagesize =
| caption = Robin McKinley
| pseudonym =
| birth_name = Jennifer Carolyn Robin McKinley
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1952|11|16|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Warren, Ohio]], U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| occupation = Writer
| period = 1978–present
| genre = [[Children's literature|Children's]] [[fantasy]] novels, [[Bildungsroman]], [[fairy tales]]
| subject =
| movement =
| notableworks = {{plainlist|
* ''[[The Hero and the Crown]]''
* ''[[Deerskin (novel)|Deerskin]]''
* ''[[Sunshine (novel)|Sunshine]]''
* ''[[Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast|Beauty]]''
}}
| spouse = {{marriage| [[Peter Dickinson]]|1991|2015|end=died}}
| partner =
| children =
| relatives =
| awards = {{awd |[[Newbery Medal]] |1985}} {{awd |[[World Fantasy Award]] |1986}}
| signature =
| website = {{URL|robinmckinley.com}}
| portaldisp =
}}

'''Robin McKinley''' (born November 16, 1952) is an [[American people|American]] author best known for her [[fantasy]] novels and fairy tale retellings. Her 1984 novel ''[[The Hero and the Crown]]'' won the [[Newbery Medal]] as the year's best new American children's book. In 2022, the [[Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association]] named her the 39th Damon Knight Memorial [[SFWA Grand Master|Grand Master]] in recognition of her significant contributions to the literature of science fiction and fantasy.  


== Biography ==
== Biography ==


Robin McKinley was born as Jennifer Carolyn Robin McKinley on November 16, 1952, in [[Warren, Ohio]]. Her father William McKinley was an officer in the [[United States Navy]] and her mother Jeanne Turrell McKinley was a teacher. As a result of her father's changing naval posts, McKinley grew up all over the world, including in [[California]], [[New York (state)|New York]], Japan, and [[Maine]]. She was educated at [[Gould Academy]], a preparatory school in [[Bethel, Maine]]. McKinley went on to attend college, first at [[Dickinson College]] in [[Carlisle, Pennsylvania]], in 1970–1972 and later at [[Bowdoin College]] in [[Brunswick, Maine]], where she graduated ''[[summa cum laude]]'' in 1975.{{sfn|Karrenbrock|1986|pp=262–263}}{{sfn|Crew|1994|pp=442–443}}
Born in her mother's hometown of [[Warren, Ohio]], Robin McKinley grew up an only child with a father in the [[United States Navy]]. According to her, she moved around frequently as a child and read copiously; she credits this background with the inspiration for her stories. Her passion for reading was one of the most constant things in her childhood, so she began to remember events, places, and time periods by what books she read where. For example, she read [[Andrew Lang]]'s ''[[Blue Fairy Book]]'' for the first time in California; ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'' for the first time in New York; ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' for the first time in Japan; ''[[The Once and Future King]]'' for the first time in Maine. She still uses books to keep track of her life.


Robin McKinley lives in the United Kingdom. Her husband was author [[Peter Dickinson]]; they were married from 1991 until his death in 2015. They had no children, though Dickinson had children from his first marriage.<ref>{{cite web | title = Peter Dickinson obituary | url = https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/17/peter-dickinson | author = Julia Eccleshare | work = The Guardian | access-date = 10 September 2018 }}</ref>


=== Career ===
McKinley attended Gould Academy, a preparatory school in Bethel, Maine, and Dickinson College in 1970-1972. In 1975, she was graduated summa cum laude from Bowdoin College. In 1978, her first novel, ''Beauty'', was accepted by the first publisher she sent it to, and she began her writing career, at age 26. At the time she was living in Brunswick, Maine. Since then she has lived on a horse farm in Eastern Massachusetts, and now in Hampshire, England, with her husband [[Peter Dickinson]] (also a writer, and with whom she co-wrote ''Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits'' in 2001) and two [[Whippet|whippets]].


After graduating from college, she remained in Maine for several years working as a research assistant and later in a bookstore. During this time, she completed her first book, ''Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast''. It was accepted for publication by the first publisher it was sent to and upon publication immediately pushed McKinley to prominence. The book was named an [[ALA Notable lists|American Library Association Notable Children's Book]] and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults.{{sfn|Karrenbrock|1986|pp=262–263}}
Over the years she has worked as an editor and transcriber (1972-73), research assistant (1976-77), bookstore clerk (1978), teacher and counselor (1978-79), editorial assistant (1979-81), barn manager (1981-82; a horse fell on her hand, delaying ''The Blue Sword'' by six weeks), free-lance editor (1982-85; during this time she broke her ankle, expediting the finish of ''Hero''), and full-time writer. Other than books she counts as her major preoccupations grand opera and long walks, both of which she claims keep the blood flowing and the imagination limber.


== Writing ==
=== Writing ===


Robin McKinley has written a variety of novels, mostly in the fantasy genre. Several of her novels are her own personal renditions of classic fairy tales with a "feminist twist".<ref>{{cite web|title=Robin McKinley|url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CH1000066853&v=2.1&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w|work=Contemporary Authors Online|publisher=Gale|access-date=26 May 2011}}</ref> These retellings usually feature a strong female protagonist who does not wait to be rescued but instead takes an active role in determining the course of her own life. ''Beauty'' and ''Rose Daughter'' are both versions of [[Beauty and the Beast]], ''Spindle's End'' is the story of [[Sleeping Beauty]], and ''Deerskin'' and two of the stories in ''The Door in the Hedge'' are based on other folktales. Besides adapting classic fairy tales, McKinley wrote her own rendition of the Robin Hood story in her novel ''The Outlaws of Sherwood''.{{sfn|Tchana|1995|pp=446–447}}
The heroines in McKinley's books reflect certain qualities that she saw in herself as a young woman: clumsiness, plainness, bookishness, and uninterest in the usual social games that involve flirting and dating (she says, "I didn't discover boys because they didn't discover me, and because their standards of discovery seemed to me too odd to be aspired to... they were the ones who got to have adventures, while we got to -- well, not have adventures.") She believes now that most girls go through a time growing up when they believe they must have an innate greatness and destiny beyond the apparent; that they are in fact lost princesses, [[babies switched at birth|switched at birth]].


McKinley has written two novels set in the imaginary land of Damar, ''The Blue Sword'' and ''The Hero and the Crown''.{{sfn|Perry|2011|p=1}} Her contribution to the ''Imaginary Lands'' anthology and the stories in ''A Knot in the Grain'' are also set there.
She writes about strong heroines because she feels very strongly about the potential for girls to be "doing things" and she feels that the selection of fantasy literature featuring girls is scarce and unsatisfactory. According to biographer Marilyn H. Karrenbrock, "McKinley's females do not simper; they do not betray their own nature to win a man's approval. But neither do they take love lightly or put their own desires before anything else. In McKinley's books, the romance, like the adventure, is based upon ideals of faithfulness, duty, and honor."


Her standalone novels include ''[[Sunshine (novel)|Sunshine]]'' (2003), ''[[Dragonhaven]]'' (2007), and ''Shadows'' (2013).{{sfn|Hearne|2015}}
As far as her writing goes, McKinley describes herself as a "scribe" and "Damar's historian", because the stories "happen to her" and she is only responsible for writing them down. The stories of Damar have been occurring to her since before she wrote ''Beauty'', and ''The Blue Sword'' was intended to be the first of a trilogy about this land. Her first two books, ''The Blue Sword'' and ''The Hero and the Crown'', are both set there, as are her contribution to the ''Imaginary Lands'' anthology and four of the five stories in ''A Knot in the Grain''. She has also written several retellings of fairy tales; ''Beauty'' and ''Rose Daughter'' are both versions of [[Beauty and the Beast]], ''Spindle's End'' is the story of Sleeping Beauty, and ''Deerskin'' and two of the stories in The ''Door in the Hedge'' are based on other folk-tales.


McKinley says she writes about strong heroines because she feels very strongly about the potential for girls to be "doing things", and she feels that the selection of fantasy literature featuring girls is scarce and unsatisfactory. According to biographer Marilyn H. Karrenbrock, "McKinley's females do not simper; they do not betray their own nature to win a man's approval. But neither do they take love lightly or put their own desires before anything else. In McKinley's books, the romance, like the adventure, is based upon ideals of faithfulness, duty, and honor."{{sfn|Karrenbrock|1986|p=262}}
== Bibliography ==

* ''[[Beauty]]'' (1978)
== Awards and honors ==
* ''[[The Door in the Hedge]]'' (1981)

* ''[[The Blue Sword]]'' (1982)
* 1983 [[Newbery Medal|Newbery Honor]] for ''The Blue Sword''.{{sfn|Karrenbrock|1986|p=264}}
* ''[[The Hero and the Crown]]'' (1984)
*1985 [[Newbery Medal]] for ''The Hero and the Crown''.{{sfn|Sutherland|1986|p=161}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Past Newbery, Caldecott and Legacy Banquet Acceptance Speeches |url=https://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/NCWBanquetRecordings |access-date=25 June 2021 |publisher=ALSC}}</ref>
* ''[[Imaginary Lands]]'' (1985) (ed.) ISBN 978-0441366941
*1986 [[World Fantasy Award—Anthology|World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology/Collection]] for ''Imaginary Lands'', as editor.<ref>{{cite web |title=Winners {{!}} World Fantasy Convention |url=http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/winners/ |access-date=28 November 2022 |publisher=World Fantasy Awards}}</ref>
*1998 Phoenix Award Honor Book for ''Beauty''.<ref name="brochure" />
*2004 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature for ''Sunshine''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mythopoeic Awards {{!}} Winners |url=https://www.mythsoc.org/awards/awards-winners.htm |access-date=28 November 2022 |publisher=Mythopoeic Society}}</ref>
*2022 [[SFWA Grand Master|Grand Master]] of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association<ref name="grand-master">{{cite web |date=November 28, 2022 |title=SFWA Names Robin McKinley Its 39th Grand Master! |url=https://www.sfwa.org/2022/11/28/robin-mckinley-39th-sfwa-grand-master/ |work=[[Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association]]}}</ref>

== Works ==

=== Children's picture books ===
* ''Rowan'' (1992), Illustrated by Donna Ruff
* ''My Father Is in the Navy'' (1992), Illustrated by Martine Gourbalt
* ''The Stone Fey'' (1998), Illustrated by John Clapp

=== Adaptations ===
* ''Black Beauty Storybook Edition'' (1986), Illustrated by Susan Jeffers. Originally by Anna Sewell (1877)
* ''The Light Princess'' (1988), Illustrated by Katie Thamer Treheme. Chapter book. Originally by George MacDonald (1864)
*''Tales from the Jungle Book'' (1985), Illustrated by [[Joseph A. Smith (artist)|Jos. A. Smith]]. Contains versions of "Kaa's Hunting", "Mowgli's Brothers", "Tiger! Tiger!" retold by McKinley and based on the short stories by [[Rudyard Kipling]] in ''The Jungle Book'' (1894).

=== Standalone novels ===
* ''[[Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast]]'' (1978)
* ''[[The Outlaws of Sherwood]]'' (1988)
* ''[[The Outlaws of Sherwood]]'' (1988)
* ''[[Rowan (Robin McKinley)|Rowan]]'' (1992) illus. Donna Ruff
* ''[[Deerskin (novel)|Deerskin]]'' (1993)
* ''[[Deerskin]]'' (1993)
* ''[[A Knot in the Grain and Other Stories]]'' (1996)
* ''[[Rose Daughter]]'' (1997)
* ''[[Rose Daughter]]'' (1997)
* ''[[The Stone Fey]]'' (1998) illus. John Clapp (reprint of short story from ''Imaginary Lands'')
* ''[[Spindle's End]]'' (2000)
* ''[[Spindle's End]]'' (2000)
* ''[[Sunshine (novel)|Sunshine]]'' (2003)
* ''[[Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits]]'' (2002) (with Peter Dickinson)
* ''[[Sunshine (book)|Sunshine]]'' (2003)
* ''[[Dragonhaven]]'' (2007)
* ''[[Dragonhaven]]'' (2007)
* ''[[Chalice (novel)|Chalice]]'' (2008)
* ''Pegasus'' (2010)
* ''Shadows'' (2013)

=== Novels in series ===

==== Damar ====
* ''[[The Blue Sword]]'' (1982)
* ''[[The Hero and the Crown]]'' (1984)

Short stories set in Damar include: "The Healer" (1982), "The Stagman" (1984), "The Stone Fey" (1998), "A Pool in the Desert''"'' (2004)

=== Collections ===

* '''''[[The Door in the Hedge]]''''' (1981)
**"The Stolen Princess"
** "The Princess and the Frog"
** "The Hunting of the Hind"
** "The Twelve Dancing Princesses"
* '''''Imaginary Lands''''' (1986), editor and contributor
**"Paper Dragons", by James P. Blaylock
**"The Old Woman and the Storm" by Patricia A. McKillip
** "The Big Rock Candy Mountain" by Robert Westall
** "Flight" by Peter Dickinson
** "Evian Steel" by Jane Yolen
** "Stranger Blood" by P. C. Hodgell
** "The Curse of Igamor" by Michael de Larrabeiti
** "Tam Lin" by Joan D. Vinge
** "The Stone Fey" by Robin McKinley
*'''''[[A Knot in the Grain and Other Stories]]''''' (1994)
**"The Healer"
** "The Stagman"
** "Touk's House"
** "Buttercups"
** "A Knot in the Grain"
* '''''Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits''''' (2004), by Peter Dickinson and Robin McKinley
**Prologue: The Water Sprite by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson
**"The Mermaid Song" by Peter Dickinson
** "The Sea-King's Son" by Robin McKinley
** "Sea Serpent" by Peter Dickinson
** "Water Horse" by Robin McKinley
** "Kraken" by Peter Dickinson
** "A Pool in the Desert" by Robin McKinley
*'''''Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits''''' (2009), by Peter Dickinson and Robin McKinley
**"Phoenix" by Peter Dickinson
**"Hellhound" by Robin McKinley
** "Firework" by Peter Dickinson
** "Salamander Man" by Peter Dickinson
** "First Flight" by Robin McKinley

(Note: ''Earth and Air'' (2012), the third collection in the Elemental Spirits series, was written entirely by [[Peter Dickinson]].)

=== Other collections to which she has contributed ===
* ''Elsewhere, Volume II'' (1982), edited by Terri Windling and Mark Alan Arnold, with "The Healer"
* ''Elsewhere, Volume III'' (1984), edited by Terri Windling and Mark Alan Arnold, with "The Stagman"
* ''Faery!'' (1985), edited by Terri Windling, with "Touk's House"
* ''Dragons and Warrior Daughters: Fantasy Stories by Women Writers'' (1989), edited by Jessica Yates, with "The Healer"
* ''Masterpieces of Fantasy and Wonder'' (1989) edited by David G. Hartwell, with "The Princess and the Frog"
* ''Spells of Enchantment: The Wondrous Fairy Tales of Western Culture'' (1991), edited by Jack D. Zipes, with "The Princess and the Frog"
* ''Silver Birch, Blood Moon'' (The Snow White, Blood Red Anthology Series # 5), 1999, edited by Ellen Datlow and Teri Windling, with "Marsh-Magic"
* ''The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Sixteenth Annual Collection'' (2003), edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, with "A Pool in the Desert"
* ''Lightspeed Magazine'', Issue 45 (February 2014), edited by John Joseph Adams, with "Hellhound"

=== Nonfiction ===

==== Book introductions ====
* ''Imaginary Lands'' (1986)
* ''Oz: The Hundredth Anniversary Celebration'' (2000) by Peter Glassman
* ''The Phoenix and the Carpet'' (Five Children # 2; originally published 1904; published with introduction 2012), by E. Nesbit


== References ==
== References ==

* Contemporary Authors Online, Thomson Gale, 2004. Entry Updated : 21 October 2004.
{{Reflist |25em |refs=
<ref name=brochure>
{{cite web |url=https://chla.memberclicks.net/phoenix-award |title=Phoenix Award |work=[[Children's Literature Association]] |access-date=November 28, 2022}}
</ref>
}}

== Works cited ==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last=Crew |first=Hilary S. |year=1994 |chapter=McKinley, (Jennifer Carolyn) Robin |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/twentiethcentury0000unse_h0e3 |chapter-url-access=registration |editor-last=Berger |editor-first=Laura Standley |title=Twentieth-Century Young Adult Writers |publisher=St. James Press |isbn=978-1-55-862202-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Hearne |first=Betsy |year=2015 |chapter=McKinley, Robin |chapter-url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199689828.001.0001/acref-9780199689828-e-484?rskey=1JJD3C&result=601 |chapter-url-access=subscription |title=The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales |edition=2nd |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-968982-8 |doi=10.1093/acref/9780199689828.001.0001}}
* {{cite book |last1=Karrenbrock |first1=Marilyn H. |year=1986 |chapter=Robin McKinley |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/americanwritersf0052unse/page/262/ |chapter-url-access=registration |editor1-last=Estes |editor1-first=Glenn E. |title=[[Dictionary of Literary Biography]] |volume=52 |publisher=Gale |isbn=978-0-8103-1730-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Perry |first=Evelyn M. |year=2011 |title=Robin McKinley: Girl Reader, Woman Writer |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-7744-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Sutherland |first=Zena |author-link=Zena Sutherland |year=1986 |chapter=Newbery Medal Books |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/newberycaldecott0000unse_r3c3/page/160/mode/2up |chapter-url-access=registration |editor-last=Lee |editor-first=Kingman |title=Newbery and Caldecott Medal Books, 1976-1985 |publisher=The Horn Book |isbn=978-0-87675-004-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Tchana |first=Katrin |year=1995 |chapter=McKinley, Robin |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/childrensbooksth0000unse |chapter-url-access=registration |editor-last=Silvey |editor-first=Anita |editor-link=Anita Silvey |title=Children's Books and Their Creators |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |isbn=978-0-395-65380-7}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
'''Selected scholarly works about McKinley'''
{{refbegin|30em}}
*{{cite journal |first=Anna E. |last=Altmann |title=Welding Brass Tits on the Armor: An Examination of the Quest Metaphor in Robin McKinley's The Hero and the Crown |journal=[[Children's Literature in Education]] |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=143–156 |date=September 1992 |doi=10.1007/BF01131038 |s2cid=161542199}} Reprint in {{harvnb|CLR 127}}.
*{{cite journal |first=Michael |last=Cadden |title=The Illusion of Control: Narrative Authority in Robin McKinley's Beauty and The Blue Sword |journal=[[Mythlore]] |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=16–19 |date=Spring 1994 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol20/iss2/3/ |jstor=26812530}} Reprint in {{harvnb|CLR 127}}.
*{{cite journal |first=Mike |last=Cadden |title=Home Is a Matter of Blood, Time, and Genre: Essentialism in Burnett and McKinley |journal=ARIEL |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=53–67 |date=January 1997 |url=http://cdm.ucalgary.ca/index.php/ariel/article/view/33867}} Reprint in {{harvnb|CLR 127}}.
*{{cite journal |first=Betsy |last=Hearne |title=Beauty and the Beast: Visions and Revisions of an Old Tale: 1950–1985 |journal=[[The Lion and the Unicorn (journal)|The Lion and the Unicorn]] |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=74–111 |date=December 1988 |doi=10.1353/uni.0.0146 |s2cid=143651619 }} Reprint in {{harvnb|CLR 127}}.
*{{cite journal |first=Maryellen |last=Hains |title=Beauty and the Beast: 20th Century Romance? |journal=Merveilles and Contes |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=75–83 |date=May 1989 |jstor=41389992}} Reprint {{cite book |editor-first=Scot |editor-last=Peacock |title=Children's Literature Review |publisher=Gale |volume=81 |year=2003 |isbn=0787651230 |url=https://archive.org/details/childrensliterat81gale |url-access=registration }}
*{{cite journal |first=Amelia A. |last=Rutledge |title=Robin McKinley's Deerskin: Challenging Narcissisms |journal=Marvels and Tales: Journal of Fairy Tales Studies |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=168–182 |year=2001 |doi=10.1353/mat.2001.0028 |s2cid=143473171 }} Reprint in {{harvnb|CLR 127}}.
*{{cite book |last=Sackelman |first=Ellen R. |chapter=More Than Skin Deep: Robin McKinley's Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast |editor-first=Jerilyn |editor-last=Fisher |editor2-first=Ellen S. |editor2-last=Silber |title=Women in Literature: Reading Through the Lens of Gender |chapter-url= https://archive.org/details/womeninliteratur0000unse/page/32 |chapter-url-access=registration |year=2003 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0-313-31346-2 |pages=32–34}}
*{{cite journal |first=Lynn Moss |last=Sanders |title=Girls Who Do Things: The Protagonists of Robin McKinley's Fantasy Fiction |journal=[[The ALAN Review]] |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=38–42 |date=Fall 1996 |doi=10.21061/alan.v24i1.a.7 |doi-access=free}} Reprint in {{harvnb|CLR 127}}.
* {{cite book |title=Children's Literature Review: Excerpts from Reviews, Criticism, and Commentary on Books for Children and Young People |publisher=Thomson Gale |volume=127 |year=2008 |isbn=978-1414428963 |ref={{harvid|CLR 127}}}}
{{refend}}

'''Selected interviews'''
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite news|url=https://goodconversations.com/author-interviews/robin-mckinley/|last=Podell|first=Tim|title=Video Interview of Robin McKinley|date=2014-08-24|work=Good Conversations |access-date=2018-09-12|language=en-US}}
* ''Robin McKinley Interviewed'' (2004) by Sandy Auden. Found in ''The Third Alternative #37, Spring 2004'', editor Andy Cox
* ''Author Spotlight: Robin McKinley'' (2014) by Kevin McNeil. Found in ''Lightspeed, February 2014'', editor John Joseph Adams
* {{Cite web|last=Wright|first=Allen W.|date=2002|url=http://boldoutlaw.com/robint/mckinley1.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226193909/http://boldoutlaw.com/robint/mckinley1.html|title=Interviews in Sherwood: Robin McKinley|url-status=dead|archive-date=2017-02-26|access-date=2018-09-12}}
{{refend}}


== External links ==
== External links ==
* {{isfdb name|2369}}
* [http://www.robinmckinley.com/ Robin McKinley's Website]
* [http://robinmckinley.livejournal.com Robin McKinley's blog]
* {{LCAuth|n78033837|Robin McKinley|32|}}
* [http://www.fantasyliterature.net/mckinleyrobin.html Robin McKinley cover art, novel synopses, reviews]
* [http://scifan.com/writers/mm/McKinleyRobin.asp Bibliography] on [[SciFan]]
* [http://www.boldoutlaw.com/robint/mckinley1.html Interviews in Sherwood - Robin McKinley on her Outlaws of Sherwood novel]
* [http://www.sfadb.com/Robin_McKinley_Chronology Robin McKinley] at the Science Fiction Awards Database
* [http://www.boldoutlaw.com/robint/mckinley1.html Interview by Allen W. Wright] (2002) at Interviews in Sherwood, about her novel ''The Outlaws of Sherwood'' (1988)
* [http://mindstalk.net/mckinley/ Fansite] with commentary and mailing list
* [https://alsc-awards-shelf.org/directory/results?author=248 Awards listed on the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) webpage]
* {{isfdb name|id=Robin_McKinley|name=Robin McKinley}}
* [https://www.robinmckinleysblog.com Robin McKinley's blog]

{{Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Awards}}
{{World Fantasy Award Best Collection}}

{{Authority control}}


[[Category:1952 births|McKinley, Robin]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKinley, Robin}}
[[Category:Living people|McKinley, Robin]]
[[Category:1952 births]]
[[Category:People from Ohio|McKinley, Robin]]
[[Category:American fantasy writers]]
[[Category:American fantasy writers|McKinley, Robin]]
[[Category:Bowdoin College alumni]]
[[Category:American women writers|McKinley, Robin]]
[[Category:English children's writers]]
[[Category:English children's writers|McKinley, Robin]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Newbery Medal winners|McKinley, Robin]]
[[Category:Newbery Medal winners]]
[[Category:Newbery Honor winners]]
[[Category:People from Warren, Ohio]]
[[Category:SFWA Grand Masters]]
[[Category:American women science fiction and fantasy writers]]
[[Category:World Fantasy Award winners]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century American novelists]]
[[Category:American women novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American women writers]]

Latest revision as of 18:41, 30 November 2024

Robin McKinley
Robin McKinley
Robin McKinley
BornJennifer Carolyn Robin McKinley
(1952-11-16) November 16, 1952 (age 72)
Warren, Ohio, U.S.
OccupationWriter
Period1978–present
GenreChildren's fantasy novels, Bildungsroman, fairy tales
Notable works
Notable awardsNewbery Medal
1985
World Fantasy Award
1986
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1991; died 2015)​
Website
robinmckinley.com

Robin McKinley (born November 16, 1952) is an American author best known for her fantasy novels and fairy tale retellings. Her 1984 novel The Hero and the Crown won the Newbery Medal as the year's best new American children's book. In 2022, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association named her the 39th Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master in recognition of her significant contributions to the literature of science fiction and fantasy.  

Biography

[edit]

Robin McKinley was born as Jennifer Carolyn Robin McKinley on November 16, 1952, in Warren, Ohio. Her father William McKinley was an officer in the United States Navy and her mother Jeanne Turrell McKinley was a teacher. As a result of her father's changing naval posts, McKinley grew up all over the world, including in California, New York, Japan, and Maine. She was educated at Gould Academy, a preparatory school in Bethel, Maine. McKinley went on to attend college, first at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1970–1972 and later at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where she graduated summa cum laude in 1975.[1][2]

Robin McKinley lives in the United Kingdom. Her husband was author Peter Dickinson; they were married from 1991 until his death in 2015. They had no children, though Dickinson had children from his first marriage.[3]

Career

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After graduating from college, she remained in Maine for several years working as a research assistant and later in a bookstore. During this time, she completed her first book, Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast. It was accepted for publication by the first publisher it was sent to and upon publication immediately pushed McKinley to prominence. The book was named an American Library Association Notable Children's Book and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults.[1]

Writing

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Robin McKinley has written a variety of novels, mostly in the fantasy genre. Several of her novels are her own personal renditions of classic fairy tales with a "feminist twist".[4] These retellings usually feature a strong female protagonist who does not wait to be rescued but instead takes an active role in determining the course of her own life. Beauty and Rose Daughter are both versions of Beauty and the Beast, Spindle's End is the story of Sleeping Beauty, and Deerskin and two of the stories in The Door in the Hedge are based on other folktales. Besides adapting classic fairy tales, McKinley wrote her own rendition of the Robin Hood story in her novel The Outlaws of Sherwood.[5]

McKinley has written two novels set in the imaginary land of Damar, The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown.[6] Her contribution to the Imaginary Lands anthology and the stories in A Knot in the Grain are also set there.

Her standalone novels include Sunshine (2003), Dragonhaven (2007), and Shadows (2013).[7]

McKinley says she writes about strong heroines because she feels very strongly about the potential for girls to be "doing things", and she feels that the selection of fantasy literature featuring girls is scarce and unsatisfactory. According to biographer Marilyn H. Karrenbrock, "McKinley's females do not simper; they do not betray their own nature to win a man's approval. But neither do they take love lightly or put their own desires before anything else. In McKinley's books, the romance, like the adventure, is based upon ideals of faithfulness, duty, and honor."[8]

Awards and honors

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Works

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Children's picture books

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  • Rowan (1992), Illustrated by Donna Ruff
  • My Father Is in the Navy (1992), Illustrated by Martine Gourbalt
  • The Stone Fey (1998), Illustrated by John Clapp

Adaptations

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  • Black Beauty Storybook Edition (1986), Illustrated by Susan Jeffers. Originally by Anna Sewell (1877)
  • The Light Princess (1988), Illustrated by Katie Thamer Treheme. Chapter book. Originally by George MacDonald (1864)
  • Tales from the Jungle Book (1985), Illustrated by Jos. A. Smith. Contains versions of "Kaa's Hunting", "Mowgli's Brothers", "Tiger! Tiger!" retold by McKinley and based on the short stories by Rudyard Kipling in The Jungle Book (1894).

Standalone novels

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Novels in series

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Damar

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Short stories set in Damar include: "The Healer" (1982), "The Stagman" (1984), "The Stone Fey" (1998), "A Pool in the Desert" (2004)

Collections

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  • The Door in the Hedge (1981)
    • "The Stolen Princess"
    • "The Princess and the Frog"
    • "The Hunting of the Hind"
    • "The Twelve Dancing Princesses"
  • Imaginary Lands (1986), editor and contributor
    • "Paper Dragons", by James P. Blaylock
    • "The Old Woman and the Storm" by Patricia A. McKillip
    • "The Big Rock Candy Mountain" by Robert Westall
    • "Flight" by Peter Dickinson
    • "Evian Steel" by Jane Yolen
    • "Stranger Blood" by P. C. Hodgell
    • "The Curse of Igamor" by Michael de Larrabeiti
    • "Tam Lin" by Joan D. Vinge
    • "The Stone Fey" by Robin McKinley
  • A Knot in the Grain and Other Stories (1994)
    • "The Healer"
    • "The Stagman"
    • "Touk's House"
    • "Buttercups"
    • "A Knot in the Grain"
  • Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits (2004), by Peter Dickinson and Robin McKinley
    • Prologue: The Water Sprite by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson
    • "The Mermaid Song" by Peter Dickinson
    • "The Sea-King's Son" by Robin McKinley
    • "Sea Serpent" by Peter Dickinson
    • "Water Horse" by Robin McKinley
    • "Kraken" by Peter Dickinson
    • "A Pool in the Desert" by Robin McKinley
  • Fire: Tales of Elemental Spirits (2009), by Peter Dickinson and Robin McKinley
    • "Phoenix" by Peter Dickinson
    • "Hellhound" by Robin McKinley
    • "Firework" by Peter Dickinson
    • "Salamander Man" by Peter Dickinson
    • "First Flight" by Robin McKinley

(Note: Earth and Air (2012), the third collection in the Elemental Spirits series, was written entirely by Peter Dickinson.)

Other collections to which she has contributed

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  • Elsewhere, Volume II (1982), edited by Terri Windling and Mark Alan Arnold, with "The Healer"
  • Elsewhere, Volume III (1984), edited by Terri Windling and Mark Alan Arnold, with "The Stagman"
  • Faery! (1985), edited by Terri Windling, with "Touk's House"
  • Dragons and Warrior Daughters: Fantasy Stories by Women Writers (1989), edited by Jessica Yates, with "The Healer"
  • Masterpieces of Fantasy and Wonder (1989) edited by David G. Hartwell, with "The Princess and the Frog"
  • Spells of Enchantment: The Wondrous Fairy Tales of Western Culture (1991), edited by Jack D. Zipes, with "The Princess and the Frog"
  • Silver Birch, Blood Moon (The Snow White, Blood Red Anthology Series # 5), 1999, edited by Ellen Datlow and Teri Windling, with "Marsh-Magic"
  • The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Sixteenth Annual Collection (2003), edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, with "A Pool in the Desert"
  • Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 45 (February 2014), edited by John Joseph Adams, with "Hellhound"

Nonfiction

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Book introductions

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  • Imaginary Lands (1986)
  • Oz: The Hundredth Anniversary Celebration (2000) by Peter Glassman
  • The Phoenix and the Carpet (Five Children # 2; originally published 1904; published with introduction 2012), by E. Nesbit

References

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  1. ^ a b Karrenbrock 1986, pp. 262–263.
  2. ^ Crew 1994, pp. 442–443.
  3. ^ Julia Eccleshare. "Peter Dickinson obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
  4. ^ "Robin McKinley". Contemporary Authors Online. Gale. Retrieved May 26, 2011.
  5. ^ Tchana 1995, pp. 446–447.
  6. ^ Perry 2011, p. 1.
  7. ^ Hearne 2015.
  8. ^ Karrenbrock 1986, p. 262.
  9. ^ Karrenbrock 1986, p. 264.
  10. ^ Sutherland 1986, p. 161.
  11. ^ "Past Newbery, Caldecott and Legacy Banquet Acceptance Speeches". ALSC. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  12. ^ "Winners | World Fantasy Convention". World Fantasy Awards. Retrieved November 28, 2022.
  13. ^ "Phoenix Award". Children's Literature Association. Retrieved November 28, 2022.
  14. ^ "Mythopoeic Awards | Winners". Mythopoeic Society. Retrieved November 28, 2022.
  15. ^ "SFWA Names Robin McKinley Its 39th Grand Master!". Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association. November 28, 2022.

Works cited

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Further reading

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Selected scholarly works about McKinley

Selected interviews

  • Podell, Tim (August 24, 2014). "Video Interview of Robin McKinley". Good Conversations. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
  • Robin McKinley Interviewed (2004) by Sandy Auden. Found in The Third Alternative #37, Spring 2004, editor Andy Cox
  • Author Spotlight: Robin McKinley (2014) by Kevin McNeil. Found in Lightspeed, February 2014, editor John Joseph Adams
  • Wright, Allen W. (2002). "Interviews in Sherwood: Robin McKinley". Archived from the original on February 26, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2018.
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