14:37 on 2012/09/03 Reply  

• Ian 17:23 on 2012/09/03 Permalink

  Nice! I wonder if the French media will pick that up, i.e.; does the Hugo have any relevance outside of the anglosphere? Truth be told I know the importance of the Hugo because I’m really into the genre but I’d be surprised if 3 out of 10 people stopped randomly had ever heard of it.

• Kate 18:08 on 2012/09/03 Permalink

  True. But I don’t imagine most people think of science fiction it as a genre with many writers based in Canada, so I thought it worth noting, especially given it’s a woman writer in a fairly male-dominated genre.

• Ian 18:28 on 2012/09/03 Permalink

  No more so than writing in general, there are a lot of women writers in SF. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_speculative_fiction

• jeather 18:40 on 2012/09/03 Permalink

  Science fiction is male dominated, but not so much speculative fiction as a whole. Jo Walton’s book was fantasy, which is fairly female-heavy.

• Poutine Pundit 23:07 on 2012/09/03 Permalink

  It also won the Nebula Award, the other top Sci-fi literary prize.

• walkerp 05:39 on 2012/09/04 Permalink

  I wonder if Canada will recognize it. Our insecure literary class is one of the most snobbish of all and hates to be associated with “genre”.

  Anybody read the book or anything else by her? How is it?

• Jo Walton 06:47 on 2012/09/04 Permalink

  Thanks for mentioning it, Kate.

  I’ve only sold one book in French, and it isn’t out yet, and the overwhelming response to me selling it from my friends locally was “Great, now I can get my mother to read it.” It’s quite clear to me from attending Boreal, Quebec’s local Francophone SF convention, that most younger fans read in both languages.

• Ian 08:39 on 2012/09/04 Permalink

  On the topic of gender though, it’s worth noting that the only male winner of any written fiction Hugo award this year was Ken Liu, in the short story category. Since Jo Walton is responding to this thread, I have a question – Jo, I read your interview with John Scalzi http://whatever.scalzi.com/2011/01/20/the-big-idea-jo-walton/ and it you seem to be straddling fantasy and science fiction. My question is this – as science fiction and fantasy evolve as genres and seem to be increasingly cross-pollinating, as a writer & editor, do you think that the separation between the two is accurate or relevant these days?

• cheese 12:46 on 2012/09/04 Permalink

  There seem to be a number of Montreal writers getting international attention in the past few years. A couple of years ago a local woman won the Giller prize (I forget the book and authors name though).

  However I thought Canada was on the map for sci-fi with William Gibson (Neuromancer) being from Vancourver. But I don’t read much sci-fi anymore. Will plan to pick up this one though, can’t argue with all those awards!

• walkerp 13:01 on 2012/09/04 Permalink

  Canada has many well-recognized and succesful science fiction authors. Recognized, that is, everywhere but Canada.

• johnmcclane 13:47 on 2012/09/04 Permalink

  Atwood is recognized here, and she is a scifi writer (but not recognized for that part of her writing I would say)

• Kevin 15:50 on 2012/09/04 Permalink

  @Jo
  If you get an email from Mutsumi Takahashi – it’s legit. We would like to have you as a guest on the noon news on CTV.

• willie granger 16:03 on 2012/09/04 Permalink

  Jeez, Mutsumi should interview Kate. Introduce her as the Iron Lady of Southwest Rosemont (between 2nd and 9 th Aves anyway).

• Kate 21:26 on 2012/09/04 Permalink

  hi willie granger – not sure why you place me there, but that’s not where I live (or work).

• walkerp 08:11 on 2012/09/05 Permalink

  Margaret Atwood has based her entire persona on distancing herself from science fiction. She is one of the worst offenders of Canadian literary snobbery, cloaking it in a faux-feminist wrapping.

• Jo Walton 11:31 on 2012/09/06 Permalink

  Sorry, I was coming home from Chicago on Amtrak and only just catching up on stuff.

  Ian: I think there’s a lot of cross pollination and a lot of people writing both. But I think this has always been the case — look at Ursula Le Guin, way back to the sixties.

  Kevin: If you want to interview me, this is my real email, and I am home now.

  Everyone else: Yes, Canada has a ton of SF writers, and even here in Montreal we have quite a few, in both languages.

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