Patricia A. McKillip

Patricia A. McKillip was born in Salem, Oregon.[1] McKillip grew up in Oregon, Great Britain, and Germany. McKillip attended San Jose State University in California, where she received a B.A. in 1971 and a Master of Arts in English in 1973. [1] McKillip is married to David Lunde, a poet.[2]

McKillip's first publications were two short children's books, The Throme of the Erril of Sherill and The House on Parchment Street.[1] Her first novel, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, was published in 1974, when she was only 26 years old, and won the World Fantasy Award in 1975.[3]

McKillip's novels have included winners of the World Fantasy Award, the Locus Award, and the Mythopoeic Award. In 2008, she was a recipient of the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement.[1][4] Most of her recent novels feature cover paintings by Kinuko Y. Craft.

On writing fantasy, McKillip has said, "The tropes of mythology and symbolism are the basics. It's like a notation in music; you can change it in really wacky ways, but the sound is always the same, the sound is always there. As long as we need these symbols, then the stories will be written. But if we destroy the old symbols, then we might just have to come up with new ones--who knows?"[3]