Catherine Fisher


Catherine Fisher is a poet and novelist for children and Young Adults. Best known for her internationally bestselling novel Incarceron and its sequel, Sapphique, she has published over 40 novels and 5 volumes of poetry. She has worked as an archaeologist, and as a school and university teacher, is an experienced broadcaster and adjudicator and has taught at the Arvon Foundation and Ty Newydd Writers' Centres. She lives in Wales, UK.

Personal life

Fisher was born in Newport, in the Welsh county of Gwent. She graduated from the University of Wales with a degree in English Literature and Education.

Work experience

Catherine Fisher has worked as a primary-school teacher and as an archaeologist. She also taught writing for children at the University of South Wales. She has been a full-time writer of fiction and poetry since 2002.

Writing

Since the late 1980s, Fisher has been writing children's fantasy, both Young Adult and Middle Grade. These novels have been translated into over 30 languages, and many of her works have won or been shortlisted for literary awards. She has twice won the Welsh Books Council Tir na n'Og prize for fiction in English, with The Candle Man and The Clockwork Crow. Her young adult fantasies Incarceron and Sapphique were New York Times bestsellers and Times Book of the Year. The Oracle, the first volume of a trilogy mixing Egyptian and Greek myth, was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize. The Clockwork Crow, first of an acclaimed trilogy for middle grade, an enchanting reworking of Welsh fairylore and Victorian Gothic, was shortlisted for the Blue Peter Prize. Fisher's work mixes myth, legend and folktale, with vibrant characters and language that is precise and evocative. She has written several well-received re-tellings of Welsh myth and legend, including The Cat With Iron Claws, and Culhwch and Olwen.
In addition to her writing for children, Fisher has published four poetry collections with Seren Books: Immrama, The Unexplored Ocean, Altered States and The Bramble King. She has also published a pamphlet, Folklore, with Smith/Doorstop Books, and many poems in magazines and anthologies, including Poetry Wales, Poetry Now, The Poetry Review and the Forward Book of Poetry. The collection Immrama won the Welsh Arts Council Young Writers' Prize in 1989. She won the Cardiff International Poetry Competition in the same year with her poem 'Marginalia'.

Awards and honors

Publications

Poetry

  • Immrama Seren Books
  • The Unexplored Ocean Seren Books
  • Altered States Seren Books
  • Folklore Smith/Doorstop Books
  • The Bramble King Seren Books.

    Prose

Standalone books

  • The Conjuror's Game The Bodley Head
  • Fintan's Tower The Bodley Head
  • Saint Tarvel's Bell Chivers Press
  • The Candle Man The Bodley Head
  • The Hare And Other Stories Pont books
  • Belin's Hill The Bodley Head
  • The Lammas Field Hodder Children's
  • Darkwater Hall Hodder Children's
  • Corbenic Red Fox
  • Darkhenge The Bodley Head
  • The Weather Dress Pont Books
  • Crown of Acorns Hodder Children's Books.

    The Snow-Walker trilogy

  • The Snow-Walker's Son The Bodley Head Red Fox pb
  • The Empty Hand The Bodley Head Red Fox pb
  • The Soul Thieves The Bodley Head Red Fox pb

    The Book of the Crow series

  • The Relic Master Bodley Head 1998 Red Fox paperback 1998
  • The Interrex Bodley Head Red Fox paperback 2000
  • Flain's Coronet Bodley Head Red Fox paperback
  • The Margrave Red Fox paperback

    The Oracle trilogy

  • The Oracle Hodder Childrens 2003 '
  • The Archon Hodder Childrens 2004
  • The Scarab Hodder Childrens 2005

    Incarceron series

  • Incarceron Hodder Childrens 2007 US Dial Penguin.
  • Sapphique Hodder Childrens 2008 US Dial Penguin.

    Chronoptika series

  • Obsidian Mirror Hodder Childrens US Dial Penguin
  • The Box of Red Brocade Hodder Childrens .
  • The Door in the Moon Hodder Childrens
  • The Speed of Darkness Hodder Childrens
The Clockwork Crow series
  • The Clockwork Crow Firefly Press
  • The Velvet Fox Firefly Press
  • The Midnight Swan Firefly Press
  • Re-tellings.
  • The Magic Thief Barrington Stoke.ISBN 9781842998212
  • The Cat with Iron Claws. Pont Books. ISBN 9781848513174
  • Culhwch and Olwen Graffeg Press ISBN 9781802586459
Short Stories.
The Red Gloves and Other Stories Firefly Press. ISBN 9781913102685