Farah Mendlesohn

Farah Jane Mendlesohn (born 27 July 1968) is a British academic historian, writer on speculative fiction, and active member of science fiction fandom. Mendlesohn is best-known for their book Rhetorics of Fantasy, which classifies fantasy literature into four modes based on how the fantastic enters the story. Their work as editor includes the Cambridge Companions to science fiction and fantasy, collaborations with Edward James. The science fiction volume won a Hugo Award in 2005. Mendlesohn is also known for books on the history of fantasy, including Children's Fantasy Literature: An Introduction, co-written with Michael Levy. It was the first work to trace the genre's 500-year history and won the World Fantasy Award in 2017.

Mendlesohn's academic positions have included a professorship at Anglia Ruskin University; Mendlesohn has served as editor and chair of the science fiction journal Foundation, and as the president of the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts. In 2015, Mendlesohn received the SFRA Clareson award for distinguished service to the science fiction field.

Scholarly career

Farah Jane Mendlesohn was born on 27 July 1968 in Manchester, England. Mendlesohn's academic positions include a stint as reader in science fiction and fantasy literature in the media department at Middlesex University, and as professor and head of department in the department of English, communication, film and media at Anglia Ruskin University and is now an associate fellow of the Anglia Ruskin Centre for Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Mendlesohn writes on the history of American religions and British and American science fiction and fantasy. Mendlesohn was the editor of Foundation - The International Review of Science Fiction from 2002 to 2007, and served as its chair from 2004. It aims to create a place for discussion of historical narratives across a range of disciplines.

Awards and nominations

In 2005, Mendlesohn won the Hugo Award for Best Related Work for The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, which Mendlesohn edited with historian Edward James. James and Mendlesohn also edited The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature, released in 2012, and wrote A Short History of Fantasy in 2009.

Heinlein study In 2017, Mendlesohn announced that a critical study of Robert Heinlein was to be published by the crowdfunding publisher Unbound. the pledges had exceeded the target by 18%. The book was published in 2019, under the title The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein.

Selected works

As author Quaker Relief Work in the Spanish Civil War (Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 2002) Diana Wynne Jones: Children's Literature and the Fantastic Tradition (Oxford: Routledge, 2005) Rhetorics of Fantasy (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2008) The Inter-galactic Playground: A Critical Study of Children's and Teens' Science Fiction (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009). A Short History of Fantasy (London: Middlesex University Press, 2009) with Edward James Children's Fantasy Literature: An Introduction (London: Cambridge University Press, 2016) with Michael Levy The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein (Unbound, 2019) Creating Memory: Historical Fiction and the English Civil Wars (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020)

As editor The Parliament of Dreams: Conferring on Babylon 5 (Reading: Science Fiction Foundation, 1998) with Edward James The True Knowledge of Ken MacLeod (Reading: Science Fiction Foundation, 2003) with Andrew Butler The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003) with Edward James Polder: A Festschrift For John Clute and Judith Clute (Baltimore: Old Earth Books, 2006) Glorifying Terrorism, Manufacturing Contempt: An Anthology of Original Science Fiction (London: Rackstraw Press, 2006) On Joanna Russ (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2009) The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012) with Edward James Classic Fantasy Stories (Macmillan, 2024)