'There's a genuine magic in what they do'

 

“I love artists. I find themfascinating. To me, there really is a genuine magic in what they do.” –Elizabeth Hand

 

Born in Yonkers, NY on March 29,1957 Hand studied drama and anthropology in college and considered a stageacting career before getting into writing. Since 1988, she has lived in coastalMaine, the setting for many of her stories, and Camden Town, London, thesetting for her several of the historical fantasy novels.  She’s written more than 30 novels and dozensof shorter works. 

 

While Science Fiction and Fantasyhave been her primary focal point, she said she didn’t read much ScienceFiction as a kid.  A self-proclaimed “total Tolkien geek,” shestarted reading Samuel Delany, Angela Carter and Ursula LeGuin in high school,starting her along a path toward her own works. Her first novel, Winterlong, came out in 1988 and her mostrecent, A Haunting on the Hill, in 2023. Haunting was her third winnerof the prestigious Shirley Jackson Award for Outstanding Achievement inPsychological Suspense – the other two being Generation Lost and WyldingHall.

 

Hand also writes television andsci-fi movie spin-offs and serves as a regular critic and reviewer for the WashingtonPost, Los Angeles Times and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

 

“I never think about genre when Iwork,” she said.   “I've written fantasy, science fiction,supernatural fiction . . . suspense.   Genrés are mostly usefulas a marketing tool, and to help booksellers know where to shelve a book.”