Catherine Fisher

For other people named Catherine Fisher, see Catherine Fisher (disambiguation).

Catherine Fisher
Born	1957 (age 68–69) Newport, Wales
Occupation	Author
Nationality	Welsh
Period	1990-present
Genre	Young adult, science fiction, fantasy
Website
catherine-fisher.com

Catherine Fisher (born 1957) is a poet and novelist for children and Young Adults. Best known for her internationally bestselling novel Incarceron and its sequel, Sapphique, she has published over 40 novels and 5 volumes of poetry. She has worked as an archaeologist, and as a school and university teacher, is an experienced broadcaster and adjudicator and has taught at the Arvon Foundation and Ty Newydd Writers' Centres. She lives in Wales, UK.

Personal life

Fisher was born in Newport, in the Welsh county of Gwent. She graduated from the University of Wales with a degree in English Literature and Education.

Work experience

Catherine Fisher has worked as a primary-school teacher and as an archaeologist. She also taught writing for children at the University of South Wales. She has been a full-time writer of fiction and poetry since 2002.

Writing

Since the late 1980s, Fisher has been writing children's fantasy, both Young Adult and Middle Grade. These novels have been translated into over 30 languages, and many of her works have won or been shortlisted for literary awards. She has twice won the Welsh Books Council Tir na n'Og prize for fiction in English, with The Candle Man (2000) and The Clockwork Crow (2015). Her young adult fantasies Incarceron and Sapphique were New York Times bestsellers and Times Book of the Year. The Oracle, the first volume of a trilogy mixing Egyptian and Greek myth, was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize. The Clockwork Crow, first of an acclaimed trilogy for middle grade, an enchanting reworking of Welsh fairylore and Victorian Gothic, was shortlisted for the Blue Peter Prize. Fisher's work mixes myth, legend and folktale, with vibrant characters and language that is precise and evocative. She has written several well-received re-tellings of Welsh myth and legend, including The Cat With Iron Claws, and Culhwch and Olwen.

In addition to her writing for children, Fisher has published four poetry collections with Seren Books: Immrama (1988), The Unexplored Ocean (c. 1994), Altered States (1999) and The Bramble King (2019). She has also published a pamphlet, Folklore (2003), with Smith/Doorstop Books, and many poems in magazines and anthologies, including Poetry Wales, Poetry Now, The Poetry Review and the Forward Book of Poetry. The collection Immrama won the Welsh Arts Council Young Writers' Prize in 1989. She won the Cardiff International Poetry Competition in the same year with her poem 'Marginalia'.

Awards and honors

Awards for Fisher's writing

Year	Title	Award	Result	Ref.
1996	The Candle Man	Tir na n-Og Award for Best English-Language Book	Winner
2003	The Oracle	Whitbread Children's Book Award	Shortlist
2003	The Oracle	Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers	Nominee
2007	Corbenic	Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature	Winner
2011	Incarceron	Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature	Finalist
2019	The Clockwork Crow	Blue Peter Book Award	Nominee
2019	The Clockwork Crow	Tir na n-Og Award for Best English-Language Book	Winner

Publications

Poetry

• Immrama (1988) Seren Books
• The Unexplored Ocean (1994)Seren Books
• Altered States (1999) Seren Books
• Folklore (2003) Smith/Doorstop Books
• The Bramble King (2019) Seren Books.

Prose

Standalone books

• The Conjuror's Game (1990) The Bodley Head

The Conjuror's Game (1991) Red Fox

• Fintan's Tower (1991) The Bodley Head

Fintan's Tower (1992) Red Fox

• Saint Tarvel's Bell (1992) Chivers Press
• The Candle Man (1994.) The Bodley Head

The Candle Man (1994) Red Fox .

• The Hare And Other Stories (1994) Pont books
• Belin's Hill (1997) The Bodley Head

Belin's Hill (1997) Red Fox

• The Lammas Field (1999) Hodder Children's
• Darkwater Hall (2000) Hodder Children's
• Corbenic (2002) Red Fox
• Darkhenge (2005) The Bodley Head
• The Weather Dress (2005) Pont Books
• Crown of Acorns (May 2010) Hodder Children's Books.

The Snow-Walker trilogy

• The Snow-Walker's Son (1993) The Bodley Head Red Fox pb
• The Empty Hand (1995) The Bodley Head Red Fox pb
• The Soul Thieves (1996) The Bodley Head Red Fox pb

The Book of the Crow series

(US title: Relic Master series)

• The Relic Master Bodley Head 1998 Red Fox paperback 1998 (US title: The Dark City, 2011)
• The Interrex (1999) Bodley Head Red Fox paperback 2000 (US title: The Lost Heiress, 2011)
• Flain's Coronet (2000) Bodley Head Red Fox paperback (US title: The Hidden Coronet, 2011)
• The Margrave (2001) Red Fox paperback (US title: The Margrave, 2011)

The Oracle trilogy

• The Oracle Hodder Childrens 2003 ' (US title: The Oracle Betrayed Greenwillow Books, 2003)
• The Archon Hodder Childrens 2004 (US title: The Sphere of Secrets Greenwillow Books, 2004)
• The Scarab Hodder Childrens 2005 (US title: Day of the Scarab, Greenwillow Books 2005)

Incarceron series

• Incarceron (2007) Hodder Childrens 2007 US Dial Penguin.
• Sapphique (2008) Hodder Childrens 2008 US Dial Penguin.

Chronoptika series

• Obsidian Mirror (2012) Hodder Childrens US Dial Penguin
• The Box of Red Brocade (2013) Hodder Childrens (US title: Slanted Worlds, 2013 Dial Penguin).
• The Door in the Moon (2015) Hodder Childrens (2016 US Dial Penguin)
• The Speed of Darkness (2016) Hodder Childrens

The Clockwork Crow series

• The Clockwork Crow (2018) Firefly Press
• The Velvet Fox (2019) Firefly Press
• The Midnight Swan (2020) Firefly Press
• Re-tellings.
• The Magic Thief (2010) Barrington Stoke.ISBN 9781842998212
• The Cat with Iron Claws. (2012) Pont Books. ISBN 9781848513174
• Culhwch and Olwen (2024) Graffeg Press ISBN 9781802586459

Short Stories.

The Red Gloves and Other Stories (2021) Firefly Press. ISBN 9781913102685

References

• Pollinger Limited page on Catherine (accessed 24 August 2006).

External links

• Official website
• Catherine Fisher at the Writers of Wales Database, Literature Wales
• Catherine Fisher at Fantastic Fiction
• Catherine Fisher profile at BBC Wales
• Catherine Fisher at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Catherine Fisher at Library of Congress, with 22 library catalogue records