C. J. Cherryh
Carolyn Janice Cherry (born September 1, 1942), better known by the pen name C. J. Cherryh, is an American writer of speculative fiction. She has written more than 80 books since the mid-1970s, including the Hugo Award–winning novels Downbelow Station (1981) and Cyteen (1988), both set in her Alliance–Union universe, and her Foreigner series. She is known for worldbuilding, depicting fictional realms with great realism supported by vast research in history, language, psychology, and archeology.
C. J. Cherryh | |
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Cherryh at NorWesCon in 2006 | |
| Born | Carolyn Janice Cherry September 1, 1942 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
| Pen name | C. J. Cherryh |
| Occupation | Novelist, short story author, essayist, high school teacher |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | University of Oklahoma (BA) Johns Hopkins University (MA) |
| Period | 1976–present |
| Genre | Science fiction, fantasy |
| Notable works | Alliance–Union universe, Foreigner series |
| Notable awards | Hugo Award, Locus Award, Prometheus Award |
| Spouse | |
| Relatives | David A. Cherry (brother) |
| Website | |
| cherryh | |
Cherryh (pronounced "Cherry") appended a silent "h" to her real name because her first editor, Donald A. Wollheim, felt that "Cherry" sounded too much like a romance writer. She used only her initials, C. J., to disguise that she was female at a time when the majority of science fiction authors were male.
The author has an asteroid, 77185 Cherryh, named after her. Referring to this honor, the asteroid's discoverers wrote of Cherryh: "She has challenged us to be worthy of the stars by imagining how mankind might grow to live among them."