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Thursday, September 6, 2018

Exploring 'Voice' Possibilities


“I do think it's important to remember that writers do not have a monopoly of wisdom on their books. They can be wrong about their own books, they can often learn about their own books.” – China Miéville

Award-winning writer Miéville (for such books as King Rat and The City & the City) was born in England on this date in 1972 and said he got his name in a rather unorthodox fashion.  “My parents went through the dictionary looking for a beautiful name, nearly called me Banyan, flicked on a few pages and came to China, which is cockney rhyming slang for mate,” he said.

Miéville is a noted political activist and intended to have a career in academics, earning degrees in social anthropology and international relations, then teaching English in the Middle East before trying his hand at writing in the late 1990s.  Good choice.  Since then he has won dozens of writing honors, including the Arthur C. Clarke Award (three times), the British Fantasy Award (twice), the Hugo, Kitschies and World Fantasy Awards, and Locus Awards for Best Fantasy Novel (four times), Best Novelette, and Best Young Adult book.  
             A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he has authored 12 novels, 3 collections of short stories, several comic books and children’s books, 6 nonfiction books, and several collections of essays and said he has plans to write a book in every genre, if possible.

Every book I write, the first thing I have to do is get into the voice,” he said,  “and the voice varies from book to book - that's part of what's interesting to me.”


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