Editing Mary Doria Russell

{{Short description|American novelist}}
{{other people|Mary Russell}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Mary Doria Russell
| image            = Marydoriarussell.JPG
| imagesize        = 250px
| caption          = Russell at the annual conference of the [[American Library Association]], January 2008
| pseudonym        = 
| birth_name       = 
| birth_date       = {{birth date and age|1950|08|19}}
| birth_place      = [[Elmhurst, Illinois]], U.S.
| death_date       = 
| death_place      = 
| alma_mater       = [[University of Michigan]]
| occupation       = [[Novelist]]
| nationality      = American
| ethnicity        = 
| citizenship      = 
| period           = 1995–present
| genre            = [[Science fiction]], [[historical fiction]]
| subject          = <!--nonfiction, if easy to label-->
| movement         = 
| notableworks     = ''[[The Sparrow (novel)|The Sparrow]]''<br>''[[Children of God (novel)|Children of God]]''<br>''Doc''<br>''Epitaph''
| spouse           = 
| children         = 
| relatives        = 
| awards           = [[James Tiptree, Jr. Award]], [[BSFA Award]], [[Arthur C. Clarke Award]], [[John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer]], [[Kurd-Laßwitz-Preis|Kurd Lasswitz Preis]], ALA Top Pick in Historical Fiction, Ohioana Fiction Prize
| signature        = 
| website          = {{URL|marydoriarussell.net}}
| portaldisp       = 
}}

'''Mary Doria Russell''' (born August 19, 1950) is an American novelist.<ref name=SFE/>

==Early life and education==
Russell was born in [[Elmhurst, Illinois]].<ref name=SFE /> 

She graduated from [[Glenbard East High School]] in [[Lombard, Illinois]], which has registered its chapter of the National English Honor Society.<ref>{{cite web|title=Untitled|url=https://ssl.niu.edu/app/NEHS/chapterdirectory/Default.aspx?state=Illinois}}</ref>

==Writing career==

=== Sparrow series ===

Russell's first two novels, ''[[The Sparrow (novel)|The Sparrow]]'' and its sequel ''[[Children of God (novel)|Children of God]]'' (1998)—sometimes called the Sparrow series<ref name=isfdb/> or Emilio Sandoz sequence<ref name=SFE/>—(Random House [[Villard (imprint)|Villard]] in 1996 and 1998) are a pair of speculative fiction novels focused on the religious and psychological implications of first contact with aliens. Both explore the problem of evil ([[theodicy]]) and how to reconcile a benevolent, omniscient, all-powerful deity with lives filled with undeserved suffering.

''The Sparrow'' won the [[Arthur C. Clarke Award|Arthur C. Clarke]], [[BSFA Award|BSFA]], and [[Otherwise Award|Tiptree]] annual science fiction book awards ([[#Awards|below]]), and it was the basis for Russell winning the [[Astounding Award for Best New Writer|John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer]] in 1998.<ref name=SFE/> 

For ''[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]'', chief editor [[John Clute]] calls Russell an "author who established a strong reputation for cognitive subtlety and narrative power in her brief [science fiction] career; after the Emilio Sandoz sequence&nbsp;... she turned her interest to other fields."<ref name=SFE/>

=== Other novels ===

The rest of Russell's novels have been categorized as historical novels, although she draws from a variety of genres when telling these stories.

'''''A Thread of Grace''''' (Random House, 2005) is a World War II thriller set in Northern Italy and features both the [[Italian resistance movement]] and the plight of [[Jews|Jewish refugees]] escaping [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]] persecution throughout Europe. Much of the story is based on accounts by survivors from the period, when many Italian citizens allowed Jews to seek safe harbor in their farmlands, cities, and ports. (Russell herself is of [[Italians|Italian]] heritage and is a convert to [[Judaism]].)<ref name=BookBrowse>{{cite web
  | url = http://www.bookbrowse.com/author_interviews/full/index.cfm?author_number=1096
  | title = A Talk with Mary Doria Russell
  | work = [[BookBrowse]] | publisher= Doubleday Broadway
  | access-date = 2007-03-19
}}</ref>

'''''Dreamers of the Day''''' (Random House, 2008) is a historical romance set in the [[Midwestern United States]] and the Middle East during the aftermath of the First World War and the Great Influenza. It focuses on the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference, when Winston Churchill, T. E. Lawrence, [[Gertrude Bell]] and a group of British oilmen invented the modern Middle East, thus setting the region up for a hundred years of war.

'''''Doc''''' (Random House 2011) is a murder mystery as well as a realistic and compassionate portrait of the notorious "gambler and gunman" known as Doc Holliday. Doc is set in Dodge City, Kansas, during 1878, the last year that Dr. John Henry Holliday's tuberculosis was in check long enough for him to practice dentistry, a profession at which he excelled. The plot revolves around the mysterious death of a half-black, half-Indian boy who leaves a remarkable void in the life of the city. Doc was the American Library Association's Top Pick in Historical Fiction as well as the Kansas State Library's Notable Novel and the Great Lakes Great Reads pick.

'''''Epitaph''''' (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2015) picks up where Doc left off, following Holliday and the Earp brothers to Tombstone, Arizona, and traces the political and social roots of the infamous [[Gunfight at the O.K. Corral]], as well as the making of the mythology that surrounds it. Epitaph is deeply researched; in addition to thorough study of the history of those involved, the 60-year-old Russell rode 58 miles on horseback through the mountains surrounding Tombstone, retracing the Earp Vendetta Ride. The novel was called the best ever written on the subject by Earp biographer Allen Barra and was recognized by True West Magazine as the Best Historical Western of 2015. The Ohioana Library Foundation awarded it the Best Fiction Prize of 2016; it also won the Ohioana Readers Choice Award for the year.

'''''The Women of the Copper Country''''' (Atria Books, 2019) is a painstakingly researched novel about the [[Copper Country strike of 1913–1914]], the first unionized strike against all the copper mines in the [[Copper Country]] of [[Upper Peninsula of Michigan|Michigan's Upper Peninsula]]. The central character, "Big Annie" Clements, is based on "America's Joan of Arc," [[Anna Clemenc]], who founded the Women's Auxiliary of the [[Western Federation of Miners]] and proudly carried the flag in many marches against the [[Calumet and Hecla Mining Company]]. Other historical figures, including [[James MacNaughton]], General Manager of Calumet and Hecla, [[Woodbridge N. Ferris]], governor of Michigan during the strike, and [[Mother Jones]], prominent activist and union organizer, are also elaborately and credibly portrayed. The book received a Michigan Notable Book Award for 2020 from the Library of Michigan.

Russell is active on the lecture circuit, speaking at colleges, universities and libraries.

==Books==
* ''[[The Sparrow (novel)|The Sparrow]]'' ([[Villard (imprint)|Villard]], 1996; Ballantine, 1997)
* ''[[Children of God (novel)|Children of God]]'' (Villard, 1998; Ballantine, 1999)
* ''A Thread of Grace'' ([[Random House]], 2005; Ballantine, 2006)
* ''Dreamers of the Day'' (Random House, 2008; Ballantine 2009)
* ''Doc'' (Random House 2011; Ballantine, 2012)
* ''Epitaph: A Novel of the O.K. Corral'' (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2015 hc, 2016 tradepaper)
* ''The Women of the Copper Country: A Novel'' (Atria Books, 2019 hc, 2020 tradepaper)

==Awards==
* [[Otherwise Award|James Tiptree, Jr. Award]], 1997, ''The Sparrow''<ref name=SFADB/>
* [[Arthur C. Clarke Award]], 1998, ''The Sparrow''<ref name="SFADB" />
* [[BSFA Award for Best Novel]], 1998, ''The Sparrow'' (UK edition: [[Transworld Publishers]] Black Swan, 1997)<ref name="SFADB" />
* [[Astounding Award for Best New Writer|John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer]], 1998, ''The Sparrow''<ref name=SFE/><ref name=SFADB/>
* [[Gaylactic Spectrum Awards|Gaylactic Spectrum Hall of Fame Award]], 2001, ''The Sparrow'' and ''Children of God''<ref name=SFADB/>
* [[Kurd Laßwitz Award|Kurd Lasswitz Preis]] (Germany), best foreign novel, 2001, ''The Sparrow''<ref name=SFADB/>

==References==
{{reflist |25em |refs=
<ref name=isfdb>
[https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?Mary_Doria_Russell "Mary Doria Russell – Summary Bibliography"]. [[Internet Speculative Fiction Database]] (ISFDB). Retrieved 2014-07-30.</ref>
<ref name=SFE>
[https://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/russell_mary_doria "Russell, Mary Doria"]. Revised June 4, 2014. ''[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]'' (sf-encyclopedia.com). Retrieved 2014-07-30. Entry by 'JC', [[John Clute]].</ref>
<ref name=SFADB>
[https://www.sfadb.com/Mary_Doria_Russell "Mary Doria Russell"]. ''Science Fiction Awards Database'' (sfadb.com). [[Locus Science Fiction Foundation]]. Retrieved 2014-07-30.</ref>
}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}} 
* {{Official website}}
* [https://archive.today/20130415083017/http://kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=25738 Radio interview of Mary Doria Russell] discussing ''Dreamers of the Day'' and more, with [http://richardwolinsky.com Richard Wolinsky] on [[KPFA]]'s [https://web.archive.org/web/20080313090929/http://kpfa.org/archives/index.php?show=105 ''Cover to Cover''] (April 10, 2008)
* [https://www.withgoodreasonradio.org/2009/04/the-art-of-historical-fiction/ Public radio interview of Mary Doria Russell and NPR book reviewer Alan Cheuse discussing historical fiction. ]
* [http://orlabs.oclc.org/identities/lccn-n96-14131 WorldCat Identities Page]
* {{isfdb name|2991}}
* {{LCAuth|n96014131|Mary Doria Russell|7|}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Mary Doria}}
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century American novelists]]
[[Category:American paleoanthropologists]]
[[Category:American historical novelists]]
[[Category:American science fiction writers]]
[[Category:Former Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer winners]]
[[Category:Converts to Judaism from atheism or agnosticism]]
[[Category:Novelists from Chicago]]
[[Category:1950 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American writers of Italian descent]]
[[Category:Jewish American novelists]]
[[Category:People from Lyndhurst, Ohio]]
[[Category:University of Michigan alumni]]
[[Category:American women science fiction and fantasy writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American women historical novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]