Charles de Lint


Charles de Lint is a Canadian writer.
Primarily a writer of fantasy fiction, he has composed works of urban fantasy, contemporary magical realism, and mythic fiction. Along with authors like Terri Windling, Emma Bull, and John Crowley, de Lint during the 1980s pioneered and popularized the subgenre of urban fantasy. He writes novels, novellas, short stories, poetry, and lyrics. His most famous works include: the Newford series of books, as well as Moonheart, The Mystery of Grace, The Painted Boy and A Circle of Cats. His distinctive style of fantasy uses American folklore and European folklore; de Lint was influenced by many authors of mythology, folklore, and science fiction, including J. R. R. Tolkien, Lord Dunsany, William Morris, Mervyn Peake, James Branch Cabell, and E. R. Eddison. Some of his mythic fiction poetry can be found online on the Endicott Studio website.
As an essayist/critic/folklorist he writes book reviews for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, has judged several literary awards, and has been a writer-in-residence for two public libraries.

Personal life

Charles de Lint was born in 1951 in Bussum, in North Holland in the Netherlands. His family emigrated to Canada when he was four months old. He grew up in Canada, as well as overseas, but has lived in Ottawa since he was age eleven.
In 1974 he met MaryAnn Harris, and they married in 1980. They lived in Ottawa. Harris was first editor of de Lint's fiction and also his business manager.
MaryAnn Harris was hospitalized on September 6, 2021 for Powassan virus, a rare and debilitating tick-borne disease. On his author Facebook page, de Lint announced that MaryAnn passed away as a result of the disease on June 3, 2024. Her obituary noted that she had been de Lint's inspiration, co-musician, first editor, business manager, and artist for many of his published works. The Bruyère Foundation was suggested for memorial donations made in her name as well as to other causes that were important to her, including groups devoted to aiding youth, Indigenous peoples, animal shelters, and the environment.

Career

During his late twenties to early thirties, de Lint worked in a record store and played with a Celtic musical band during weekends.

Writing

Charles de Lint started writing in 1983 and has been a full-time writer ever since, publishing about forty books between 1984 and 1997, and 71 books, in total, thus gaining a reputation as a master of fantasy.
Charles de Lint was one of the contributors to the 1984 Citybook II: Port O' Call role-playing game supplement from Flying Buffalo.
He published three horror novels using the pseudonym Samuel M. Key which have subsequently been reprinted by Orb Books as by Charles de Lint. He has also published a children's book, A Circle of Cats, illustrated by artist Charles Vess.

Style and settings

His main genre, that of contemporary fantasy, which combines the real world with the "otherworld", allows the co-existence of the natural and the supernatural. This has been termed a metaphor for the lack of indigenous folklore in most of Canada living side-by-side with the living oral traditions of the Native Americans. De Lint, however, draws upon not only North American Aboriginal culture, but also the folklore of other cultures. For example, his novel, Moonheart, uses elements of both Native American and Welsh folklore.
Many of his early books are set in Ottawa, while others have been set mainly in his fictional North American city of Newford, inspired by de Lint's favourite aspects of various North American cities. A regular set of characters are used in many different books. More recently, de Lint published an adult novel, The Mystery of Grace, set in his fictional Southwestern US town, Santa de Vado Viejo, as was his most recent young adult novel, The Painted Boy.

Recognition

De Lint has received many awards, including the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2018. Other awards include the 2000 World Fantasy Award for Best Collection for Moonlight and Vines, the Ontario Library Association's White Pine Award, as well as the Great Lakes Great Books Award for his young adult novel The Blue Girl. In 1988 he won the Canadian SF/Fantasy Award, the Casper for his novel Jack, the Giant-killer. He also received the award for Under My Skin in 2013 and Out of This World in 2015. The Cats of Tanglewood Forest received a Sunburst Award in 2014. His novel Widdershins won first place, Amazon.com Editors' Picks: Top 10 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books of 2006. His 1984 urban fantasy novel, Moonheart, was a best-selling trade paperback for Tor's Orb line and won a Crawford Award. It has been described as a thriller, detective mystery, and otherworld mythic fantasy.

Other literary work

In addition to being the author of numerous novels and short stories, de Lint is also a poet, folklorist, and critic. His poetry can be found online in the Endicott Studio Journal of Mythic Arts. He has taught creative writing workshops in Canada and the United States, and was writer‑in‑residence for two public libraries in Ottawa. He has also written original songs; his main instruments are flute, fiddle, whistles, vocals and guitar. In 2011, de Lint released his first CD, Old Blue Truck De Lint has also been a judge for the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Award and the Bram Stoker Award.

Music and art

De Lint plays folk, Irish and Celtic music with his wife MaryAnn; at one time playing at a local pub, and most recently doing concerts at FaerieWorlds and FaerieCon West in Seattle. He plays multiple instruments and sings and writes his own songs. In 2011 de Lint released his first album, Old Blue Truck, which was released alongside his wife MaryAnn Harris's album, Crow Girls in which he also contributes.

Awards

WorkYear & AwardCategoryResultRef.
The Fane of the Grey Rose1980 Balrog AwardsShort Fiction
Dragonfields1981 World Fantasy Special Award—Non-professional
Dragonfields1981 Balrog AwardsAmatur Achievement
A Patten of Silver Strings1983 Balrog AwardsShort Fiction
The Riddle of the Wren1985 Locus AwardFirst Novel
Moonheart1985 Locus AwardFantasy Novel
Moonheart1985 Mythopoeic AwardsFantasy
Moonheart1985 Crawford AwardWon
Mulengro1986 Locus AwardFantasy Novel
Mulengro1986 Aurora AwardsNovel
Yarrow1987 Locus AwardFantasy Novel
Yarrow1987 Aurora AwardsNovel
Uncle Dobbin's Parrot Fair1988 Locus AwardNovelette
Jack, the Giant Killer1988 Aurora AwardsNovelWon
Greenmantle1989 Locus AwardFantasy Novel
The Drowned Man's Reef'1989 Readercon AwardsShort WorkWon
Ghostwood1991 Locus AwardFantasy Novel
Drink Down the Moon1991 Locus AwardFantasy Novel
The Fair in Emain Matcha1991 Aurora AwardsShort Fiction
Freewheeling1991 Aurora AwardsShort Fiction
Death Leaves an Echo1991 Bram Stoker AwardLong Fiction
The Little Country1991 HOMer AwardFantasy NovelWon
The Little Country1992 Locus AwardFantasy Novel
The Little Country1992 Aurora AwardsNovel
The Little Country1992 World Fantasy AwardNovel
The Little Country1994 Mythopoeic AwardsFantasy
The Little Country1994 Premio IgnotusForeign Novel
Our Lady of the Harbour1992 Locus AwardNovella
Our Lady of the Harbour1992 World Fantasy AwardNovella
Raven Sings a Medicine Way, Coyote Steals the Pollen1992 Aurora AwardsShort Fiction
The Conjure Man1992 World Fantasy AwardShort Fiction
Pity the Monsters1992 World Fantasy AwardShort Fiction
Bridges1993 World Fantasy AwardShort Fiction
Spiritwalk1993 World Fantasy AwardCollection
Paperjack1993 World Fantasy AwardNovella
The Bone Woman1994 Locus AwardShort Story
Dreams Underfoot1994 Locus AwardCollection
Dreams Underfoot1994 World Fantasy AwardCollection
The Moon is Drowning While I Sleep1994 World Fantasy AwardShort Fiction
Memory & Dream1995 Locus AwardFantasy Novel
The Ivory and the Horn1996 Locus AwardCollection
The Ivory and the Horn1996 World Fantasy AwardCollection
Timeskip1997 Grand Prix de l'ImaginaireForeign Short story/Collection of Foreign Short Stories
Trader1998 Locus AwardFantasy Novel
Trader1998 World Fantasy AwardNovel
Trader1998 Mythopoeic AwardsAdult Literature
Trader1998 Aurora AwardsNovel
Someplace to be Flying1999 Locus AwardFantasy Novel
Someplace to be Flying1999 British Fantasy AwardAugust Derleth Award
Someplace to be Flying1999 Aurora AwardsNovel
Someplace to be Flying1999 World Fantasy AwardNovel
Someplace to be Flying1999 Mythopoeic AwardsAdult Literature
China Doll1999 British Fantasy AwardShort Fiction
Moonlight and Vines2000 World Fantasy AwardCollectionWon
Moonlight and Vines2000 Locus AwardCollection
Moonlight and Vines2000 British Fantasy AwardCollection
Triskell Tales2001 Locus AwardCollection
Forests of the Heart2001 Locus AwardFantasy Novel
Forests of the Heart2001 Nebula AwardNovel
Forests of the Heart2001 Mythopoeic AwardsAdult Literature
The Onion Girl2002 Locus AwardFantasy Novel
The Onion Girl2002 World Fantasy AwardNovel
The Onion Girl2017 Aurora AwardsBest of the Decade
Books to Look For2002 Aurora AwardsRelated Work
Waifs and Strays2003 Locus AwardCollection
Waifs and Strays2003 World Fantasy AwardCollection
Seven Wild Sisters2003 Locus AwardNovella
Seven Wild Sisters2003 World Fantasy AwardNovella
Circle of Cats2004 World Fantasy AwardShort Fiction
The Blue Girl2005 Locus AwardYoung Adult Book
The Blue Girl2006 White Pine AwardFictionWon
Dingo2009 Sunburst AwardYoung Adult
The Mystery of Grace2010 Sunburst AwardAdult Book
The Painted Boy2011 Sunburst AwardYoung Adult
Under My Skin2013 Aurora AwardsYA NovelWon
The Cats of Tanglewood Forest2014 Sunburst AwardYoung AdultWon
Out of This World2015 Aurora AwardsYA NovelWon
Newford series2018 World Fantasy AwardLifetime AchievementWon

Novels

  • The Wild Wood
  • Memory and Dream
  • Someplace to Be Flying
  • The Road to Lisdoonvarna
  • The Blue Girl
  • The Mystery of Grace
  • Eyes Like Leaves
  • Under My Skin
  • Over My Head
  • Out of This World
  • The Wind in His Heart
  • Juniper Wiles
  • Juniper Wiles and the Ghost Girls
  • ''Juniper Wiles Does Not Want to Be Queen''

    Young adult novels

Some additional young adult novels are listed under their series name below.
  • Little Lost
  • The Painted Boy
  • The Cats of Tanglewood Forest
  • ''Seven Wild Sisters: A Modern Fairy Tale''

    Novellas

  • Berlin
  • The Fair in Emain Macha
  • Our Lady of the Harbour
  • Paperjack
  • Death Leaves an Echo
  • A Circle of Cats
  • Promises to Keep
  • ''A Tangle of Green Men''

    Chapbooks

  • Laughter in the Leaves
  • Ghosts of Wind and Shadow
  • Refinerytown
  • This Moment
  • Make A Joyful Noise
  • Old Man Crow
  • Riding Shotgun
  • ''Yellow Dog''

    Short stories published in book form

  • Ascian in Rose
  • Westlin Wind
  • Uncle Dobbin's Parrot Fair
  • Our Lady of the Harbour
  • Paperjack
  • Merlin Dreams in the Mondream Wood
  • The Wishing Well
  • ''The Buffalo Man''

    Collections

  • A Pattern of Silver Strings
  • De Grijze Roos
  • In Mask and Motley
  • Desert Moments
  • Hedgework and Guessery
  • Spiritwalk
  • Jack of Kinrowan
  • Triskell Tales
  • Waifs and Strays
  • A Handful of Coppers
  • Quicksilver & Shadow
  • Triskell Tales 2
  • What the Mouse Found and Other Stories
  • Woods and Waters Wild
  • ''The Very Best of Charles de Lint''

    Newford series

Newford is a fictional North American city where Charles de Lint has set many of his novels and short stories. Human beings share the city with European and Native American mythological legends, finding common ground as they live out their daily lives or find themselves swept up in adventures.
  • The Dreaming Place
  • From a Whisper to a Scream
  • I'll Be Watching You
  • Memory and Dream
  • Trader
  • Someplace to Be Flying
  • Forests of the Heart
  • The Onion Girl
  • Seven Wild Sisters
  • Spirits in the Wires
  • A Circle of Cats
  • Medicine Road
  • The Blue Girl
  • Widdershins
  • Promises to Keep
  • Old Man Crow
  • Dingo
  • Juniper Wiles
  • Juniper Wiles and the Ghost Girls
  • Juniper Wiles Does Not Want to Be Queen
;Newford Series Collections
De Lint also scripted several comic books for Barry Blair's Aircel Publishing in the mid-1980s.
His short story, "The Sacred Fire", was made into a short film by Peter Billingsley and Robert Meyer Burnett in 1994. Originally set on and near the campus of Butler University, the setting was changed to Beverly Hills for the film. It was also adapted as an episode of The Hunger in January 2000.

Anthology

  • ''Cafe Purgatorium''

    Review columns

  • De Lint writes a regular review column called "Books to Look For" for the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
  • Wrote several reviews in 1978 edition of Beyond the Fields We Know: Tales of Fantasy magazine as well as published poem Far from the Rush.
  • Wrote several reviews in Fanzine Dragonfields: Tales of Fantasy #3, Summer 1980 edition.
  • Wrote several reviews in Fanzine Dragonfields: Tales of Fantasy #4, Winter 1983 edition.

    Discography

  • Old Blue Truck
  • Crow Girls
  • The Loon's Lament—digital single .