'There's a genuine magic in what they do'

 

“I love artists. I find them fascinating. To me, there really is a genuine magic in what they do.” – Elizabeth Hand

 

Born in Yonkers, NY on March 29, 1957 Hand studied drama and anthropology in college and considered a stage acting career before getting into writing. Since 1988, she has lived in coastal Maine, the setting for many of her stories, and Camden Town, London, the setting for her several of the historical fantasy novels.  She’s written more than 30 novels and dozens of shorter works. 

 

While Science Fiction and Fantasy have been her primary focal point, she said she didn’t read much Science Fiction as a kid.  A self-proclaimed “total Tolkien geek,” she started reading Samuel Delany, Angela Carter and Ursula LeGuin in high school, starting her along a path toward her own works.  Her first novel, Winterlong, came out in 1988 and her most recent, A Haunting on the Hill, in 2023. Haunting was her third winner of the prestigious Shirley Jackson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Psychological Suspense – the other two being Generation Lost and Wylding Hall.

 

Hand also writes television and sci-fi movie spin-offs and serves as a regular critic and reviewer for the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

 

“I never think about genre when I work,” she said.   “I've written fantasy, science fiction, supernatural fiction . . . suspense.   Genrés are mostly useful as a marketing tool, and to help booksellers know where to shelve a book.”