Terri Windling
Terri Windling
Terri Windlingis an American editor, artist, essayist, and the author of books for both children and adults. Windling has won nine World Fantasy Awards, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and her collection The Armless Maiden appeared on the short-list for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. She received the Solstice Award in 2010, which honors "individuals with a significant impact on the speculative fiction field." Windling's work has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Italian, Czech, Lithuanian, Turkish,...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionArtist
CountryUnited States of America
I'm also looking for gems that the average reader might have missed.
I came to New York, straight out of college, wanting one thing in life: to work on Jim Henson's film The Dark Crystal.
I'm working on a very long series of paintings based on desert folklore.
Robert Jordan, whether he's writing with passion or not, I don't know.
There have been a number of us working very, very hard to bring myth and fairy tales into public consciousness, through fantasy literature and other media. I hope we're succeeding in some small way.
My book collection is primarily in America, since that's where I've lived most of my life.
Read the folklore masters. Go to galleries. Walk in the woods. That's what you need to be an artist or storyteller.
One of the best things about folklore and fairy tales is that the best fantasy is what you find right around the corner, in this world. That's where the old stuff came from.
We''re all misfits here,” he says, almost proudly. “That's why I started this squat, after all. For people like us, who don't fit in anywhere else. Halfies and homos and hopeless romantics, the outcast and outrageous and terminally weird. That's where art comes from, Jimmy, my friend. From our weirdnesses and our differences, from our manic fixations, our obsessions, our passions. From all those wild and wacky things that make each of us unique.
I have a great respect for the academics who are working with the source material. My hat's off to them.
Though now we think of fairy tales as stories intended for very young children, this is a relatively modern idea. In the oral tradition, magical stories were enjoyed by listeners young and old alike, while literary fairy tales (including most of the tales that are best known today) were published primarily for adult readers until the 19th century.
When I was younger, I was in love with everything about the British Isles, from British folklore to Celtic music. That was always where my passions were as a young girl, and so I studied folklore as a college student in England and Ireland.
I like Celtic folk music, Native American music, and any kind of early music. There isn't a lot of music that I don't like... except for Show Tunes.
The first job I was offered was as an editorial assistant. I think it was the best thing for me, in terms of being a storyteller by nature, to have spent years being an editor because I learned so much from it.