Author Biography and Bibliography

Joanna Russ is a science fiction novelist and short story writer, whose recent publications include Magic Mommas, Trembling Sisters, Puritans and Perverts, a collection of essays (The Crossing Press, 1985); Extra(Ordinary) People (St. Martin's Press, 1984); The Zanzibar Cat, a collection of short stories (Arkham House, 1983; Baen, 1984); and The Adventures of Alyx, another collection of short stories (Pocket Books, 1983).

Her nonfiction study How to Suppress Women's Writing was brought out by the University of Texas Press in 1983. A novel of hers, On Strike Against God, was published by Out and Out Books in 1980.

Other science-fiction novels include The Two of Them (Berkley/Putnam), We Who Are About To (Dell), The Female Man (Bantam), And Chaos Died (Ace Special), and Picnic on Paradise (Ace Special).

She has won both of science fiction's most prestigious awards, the Nebula (for the short story "When It Changed") in 1972 and the Hugo (for the novella, "Souls," which is an excerpt from Extra(Ordinary) People) in 1983. "When It Changed" was also included in The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women (Norton, 1985).

Well known as a feminist, Ms. Russ has been characterized as "brilliant … a stroboscopic stylist" (Publishers Weekly), whose work shows "the merciless clarity of fine art" (Washington Post). Her writing has been called "elegant … powerful" (The Body Politic), "classic and humorous" (Chicago Sun-Times), "outstanding" (Booklist), "zestful" (Christian Science Monitor), "fascinating and amusing … mischievously irreverent wit" (The Atlantic).

Her work has been reprinted in English and translated into French, German, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Danish, Spanish, Catalán, and Finnish.

She makes her home in Tucson, Arizona, describing the mountains and desert as "wonderfully fractal."





Photograph by Hannah Kanzell.