Guy Gavriel Kay (born November 7, 1954) is a Canadian author of fantasy fiction. Many of his novels are set in fictional realms that resemble real places during real historical periods, such as Constantinople during the reign of Justinian I or Spain during the time of El Cid. Those works are published and marketed as historical fantasy, though the author himself has expressed a preference to shy away from genre categorization when possible.
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Biography
Kay was born in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. When Christopher Tolkien needed an assistant to edit his father J. R. R. Tolkien's unpublished work, he chose Kay, then a student at the University of Manitoba, whose parents were friends of Baillie Tolkien's parents. Kay moved to Oxford in 1974 to assist Tolkien in the editing of The Silmarillion. There he learnt a lot about writing and editing, and later admitted of Tolkien's influence, "to be successful in fantasy, you have to take the measure of Tolkien - work with his strengths and away from his weaknesses".[1]
He returned to Canada in 1976 to finish a law degree at the University of Toronto, and became interested in fiction writing.
Kay became Principal Writer and Associate Producer for a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio series, The Scales of Justice.
In 1984, Kay's first fantasy work, The Summer Tree, the first volume of the trilogy The Fionavar Tapestry, was published.
All of Kay's subsequent works have a link to the realm of Fionavar, even if it is only a single reference to "... the first of all worlds...".[citation needed]
Bibliography
- The Fionavar Tapestry, the travails of five people from Earth in another dimension, in three parts:
- The Summer Tree (1984)
- The Wandering Fire (1986), winner of the 1987 Aurora Award.
- The Darkest Road (1986)
- Tigana (1990), winner of the 1991 Aurora Award. A sorcerer-oppressed city-state in a medieval almost-Italy.
- A Song for Arbonne (1992). A modification of the Albigensian Crusade in a medieval almost-Provence.
- The Lions of Al-Rassan, (1995). The story of two military strategists (one an almost-El Cid) in a medieval almost-Spain.
- The Sarantine Mosaic, a mosaicist under emperor Valerius II (an almost-Justinian I) in Sarantium (an almost-Constantinople), in two parts:
- Sailing to Sarantium (1998)
- Lord of Emperors (2000)
- Beyond This Dark House (2003). A collection of poetry.
- The Last Light of the Sun (2004). A story based on the Erling (almost-Viking) invasions of Anglcyn (almost-England) and Cyngael (almost-Wales) during the rule of Aeldred (an almost-Alfred the Great).
- Ysabel (2007). A modern tale set in Provence. Centering around a teenage boy and his encounters with characters from the distant past. Linked to The Fionavar Tapestry.
- Under Heaven (forthcoming 2010).
Nominations, awards and accolades
- Kay won the 1985 Scales of Justice Award for best media treatment of a legal issue, Canadian Law Reform Commission, 1985, for Second Time Around.
- Kay was nominated for a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature in 1985 for The Summer Tree.
- The Wandering Fire won the 1987 Aurora Award in the English category.
- The Wandering Fire won the 1987 Casper Award for best speculative fiction.
- Kay was nominated for a World Fantasy Award in 1991 for Tigana.
- Kay was nominated for an Aurora Award in 1991 for Tigana.
- Kay was nominated for a World Fantasy Award in 1999 for Sailing to Sarantium.
- Kay was nominated for a World Fantasy Award in 2001 for Lord of Emperors.
- The translation of The Lions of Al-Rassan was nominated for the Israeli Society for Science Fiction and Fantasy Geffen Award in 2005.
- Kay was nominated for the Canadian Sunburst Award nomination in 2005 for The Last Light of the Sun.
- Kay was runner up for the White Pine Award in 2007 for Ysabel.
- Kay was the winner of the 2008 World Fantasy Award in the Novel category for Ysabel[2].
References
External links
Interviews
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