Kelly Link
Kelly Link is an American editor and writer. Mainly known as an author of short stories, she published her first novel, The Book of Love in 2024. While some of her fiction falls more clearly within genre categories, many of her stories might be described as slipstream or magic realism: a combination of science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, and literary fiction. Among other honors, she has won a Hugo Award, three Nebula Awards, and a World Fantasy Award for her fiction, and she was one of the recipients of the 2018 MacArthur "Genius" Grant.
Biography
Link is a graduate of Columbia University in New York and the MFA program of UNC Greensboro. In 1995, she attended the Clarion East Writing Workshop.Link and husband Gavin Grant manage Small Beer Press, based in Northampton, Massachusetts. The couple's imprint of Small Beer Press for intermediate readers is called Big Mouth House. They also co-edited St. Martin's Press's The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror anthology series with Ellen Datlow for five years, ending in 2008. In 2019, Link and Grant opened Book Moon, a new and used bookstore in Easthampton, Massachusetts. Link also co-edits the literary magazine Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, and was the slush reader for Sci Fiction, edited by Datlow.
Link taught at Lenoir–Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina, with the Visiting Writers Series for spring semester 2006. She has taught or visited at a number of schools and workshops including:
- Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York;
- Brookdale Community College of Lincroft, New Jersey;
- the Imagination Workshop at Cleveland State University;
- New England Institute of Art & Communications, Brookline, Massachusetts;
- Clarion East at Michigan State University, Lansing;
- Clarion West in Seattle, Washington; and
- Smith College, near her home in Northampton.
Awards
| Work | Year & Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
| Travels with the Snow Queen | 1997 Otherwise Award | Won | ||
| Travels with the Snow Queen | 1999 World Fantasy Award | Short Fiction | ||
| The Specialist's Hat | 1999 World Fantasy Award | Short Fiction | Won | |
| Shoe and Marriage | 2001 World Fantasy Award | Short Fiction | ||
| Stranger Things Happen | 2001 Salon.com Book Award | Fiction | Won | |
| Stranger Things Happen | 2002 World Fantasy Award | Collection | ||
| Stranger Things Happen | 2002 SF Site Readers Poll | SF/Fantasy Book | ||
| Stranger Things Happen | 2002 Locus Award | Collection | ||
| Louise's Ghost | 2002 Nebula Award | Novelette | Won | |
| Lull | 2003 Locus Award | Novelette | ||
| Small Beer Press ' | 2003 World Fantasy Special Award—Non-professional award | |||
| Small Beer Press ' | 2004 World Fantasy Special Award—Professional award | |||
| Small Beer Press ' | 2005 World Fantasy Special Award—Professional award | |||
| Small Beer Press ' | 2023 World Fantasy Special Award—Professional award | |||
| Small Beer Press and Big Mouth House ' | 2009 World Fantasy Special Award—Professional award | Won | ||
| The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror ' | 2004 Bram Stoker Award | Anthology | Won | |
| The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror ' | 2005 Locus Award | Anthology | ||
| The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror ' | 2005 British Fantasy Award | Anthology | ||
| The Faery Handbag | 2004 BSFA Award | Short Fiction | ||
| The Faery Handbag | 2005 Locus Award | Novelette | Won | |
| The Faery Handbag | 2005 World Fantasy Award | Short Fiction | ||
| The Faery Handbag | 2005 Hugo Award | Novelette | Won | |
| The Faery Handbag | 2006 Nebula Award | Novelette | Won | |
| The Faery Handbag | 2012 Premio Ignotus | Foreign Story | ||
| Catskin | 2004 Locus Award | Novelette | ||
| The Hortlak | 2004 Locus Award | Novelette | ||
| The Hortlak | 2004 World Fantasy Award | Novella | ||
| Trampoline | 2004 Locus Award | Anthology | ||
| Trampoline | 2004 World Fantasy Award | Anthology | ||
| Stone Animals | 2005 Locus Award | Novelette | ||
| Stone Animals | 2005 Theodore Sturgeon Award | Short Science Fiction | ||
| Magic for Beginners | 2005 BSFA Award | Short Fiction | Won | |
| Magic for Beginners | 2006 Young Lions Fiction Award | |||
| Magic for Beginners | 2006 Locus Award | Novella | Won | |
| Magic for Beginners | 2006 SF Site Readers Poll | SF/Fantasy Book | ||
| Magic for Beginners | 2006 World Fantasy Award | Novella | ||
| Magic for Beginners | 2006 Hugo Award | Novella | ||
| Magic for Beginners | 2006 Nebula Award | Novella | Won | |
| Magic for Beginners | 2006 Theodore Sturgeon Award | Short Science Fiction | ||
| Magic for Beginners | 2008 Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire | Foreign Short story/Collection of Foreign Short Stories | ||
| Magic for Beginners | 2005 International Horror Guild Award | Collection | ||
| Magic for Beginners | 2005 Bram Stoker Award | Fiction Collection | ||
| Magic for Beginners | 2005 Salon Book Award | Won | ||
| Magic for Beginners | 2006 Locus Award | Collection | Won | |
| Magic for Beginners | 2006 World Fantasy Award | Collection | ||
| Some Zombie Contingency Plans | 2005 Bram Stoker Award | Long Fiction | ||
| Some Zombie Contingency Plans | 2006 Locus Award | Short Story | ||
| Monster | 2006 Locus Award | Short Story | ||
| The Great Divorce | 2006 Locus Award | Short Story | ||
| The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror ' | 2006 Locus Award | Anthology | Won | |
| The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror ' | 2007 Locus Award | Anthology | ||
| The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror ' | 2007 British Fantasy Award | Anthology | ||
| Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet ' | 2007 Hugo Award | Semiprozine | ||
| Light | 2008 Locus Award | Novelette | ||
| The Best of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet | 2008 Locus Award | Anthology | ||
| The Constable of Abal | 2008 Locus Award | Novelette | ||
| The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror ' | 2008 Locus Award | Anthology | ||
| Pretty Monsters | 2009 Locus Award | Novella | Won | |
| Pretty Monsters | 2009 Locus Award | Collection | ||
| Pretty Monsters | 2009 World Fantasy Award | Collection | ||
| The Surfer | 2009 Locus Award | Novella | ||
| The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror ' | 2009 Locus Award | Anthology | ||
| The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror ' | 2009 World Fantasy Award | Anthology | ||
| Secret Identity | 2010 Locus Award | Novelette | ||
| The Cinderella Game | 2010 Locus Award | Short Story | ||
| The Summer People | 2011 Shirley Jackson Award | Novelette | Won | |
| The Summer People | 2012 Locus Award | Novelette | ||
| The Summer People | 2013 O. Henry Award | Juror Favorite | ||
| Steampunk!: An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories ' | 2012 Locus Award | Anthology | ||
| Valley of the Girls | 2012 Locus Award | Short Story | ||
| Two Houses | 2013 Locus Award | Short Story | ||
| Two Houses | 2013 Shirley Jackson Award | Short Fiction | ||
| I Can See Right Through You | 2015 Locus Award | Novelette | ||
| I Can See Right Through You | 2015 World Fantasy Award | Short Fiction | ||
| Monstrous Affections ' | 2015 Locus Award | Anthology | ||
| Monstrous Affections ' | 2015 World Fantasy Award | Anthology | Won | |
| The Lady and the Fox | 2015 Locus Award | Short Story | ||
| The New Boyfriend | 2015 Locus Award | Novelette | ||
| Get in Trouble | 2016 Shirley Jackson Award | Collection | ||
| Get in Trouble | 2016 World Fantasy Award | Collection | ||
| Get in Trouble | 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction | |||
| Get in Trouble | 2016 Locus Award | Collection | ||
| Get in Trouble | 2016 Indies Choice Book Awards | Adult Fiction | Honor | |
| The Game of Smash and Recovery | 2016 Locus Award | Short Story | ||
| The Game of Smash and Recovery | 2016 Theodore Sturgeon Award | Short Science Fiction | Won | |
| 2017 World Fantasy Special Award—Professional award | Contributions to the Genre | |||
| The Girl Who Did Not Know Fear | 2020 Locus Award | Short Story | ||
| Skinder's Veil | 2022 Locus Award | Novelette | ||
| White Cat, Black Dog | 2023 Kirkus Prize | Fiction | ||
| White Cat, Black Dog | 2024 BookTube Prize | Fiction | ||
| White Cat, Black Dog | 2024 World Fantasy Award | Collection | ||
| White Cat, Black Dog | 2024 Locus Award | Collection | Won | |
| White Cat, Black Dog | 2024 Chautauqua Prize | |||
| Prince Hat Underground | 2024 World Fantasy Award | Novella | ||
| Prince Hat Underground | 2024 Locus Award | Novelette | ||
| The Book of Love | 2025 Compton Crook Award | Novel | ||
| The Book of Love | 2025 Nebula Award | Novel | ||
| The Book of Love | 2025 Los Angeles Times Book Prize–Ray Bradbury Prize | Novel | Won |
- 2018: MacArthur Fellowship
- 2023: Honorary degree from Smith College.