Quill Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 1 (2005) Winner
Elizabeth Kostova
エリザベス・コストヴァ
Erizabesu Kosutova
Aliases:
Elizabeth Johnson
Profile
- Gender
- Female
- Born
- 1964-12-26 （New London, Connecticut, U.S.）
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English
- Residence History
- New London, Connecticut, U.S. (birthplace) → Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S. (raised) → Ljubljana, Slovenia (lived there in 1972) → Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S. (studied/lived)
Career
- Occupations
- Novelist, Author
- Active Years
- 1980-
- Influenced By
- Bram Stoker, Victorian literature, Stories about vampires and folklore told by her father (familial influence)
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yale University | — | — | 学士号 | — | United States |
| University of Michigan | — | — | MFA（Master of Fine Arts） | — | United States |
Yale University
Degree:
学士号
Country:
United States
Undergraduate degree (major not specified in available sources)
University of Michigan
Degree:
MFA（Master of Fine Arts）
Year of Graduation:
2004
Country:
United States
Won the 2003 Hopwood Award while at the University of Michigan; much of the debut novel was completed during her MFA studies.
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Hopwood Award | Novel-in-Progress | — | University of Michigan | 受賞 |
| 2005 | Quill Award | The Historian | デビュー作賞（Debut Author of the Year） | Quill Awards | 受賞 |
| 2006 | Book Sense Book of the Year (Best Adult Fiction) | The Historian | ベスト成人向けフィクション | American Booksellers Association | 受賞 |
| 2006 | Lord Ruthven Award | The Historian | — | Lord Ruthven Award (organization) | 受賞 |
Hopwood Award
2003
Work:
Novel-in-Progress
Organization:
University of Michigan
Result:
受賞
Quill Award
2005
Work:
The Historian
Category:
デビュー作賞（Debut Author of the Year）
Organization:
Quill Awards
Result:
受賞
Book Sense Book of the Year (Best Adult Fiction)
2006
Work:
The Historian
Category:
ベスト成人向けフィクション
Organization:
American Booksellers Association
Result:
受賞
Lord Ruthven Award
2006
Work:
The Historian
Organization:
Lord Ruthven Award (organization)
Result:
受賞
Awards & Nominations
Lord Ruthven Award
1 appearances
Works
Major Works
The Historian
2005 Historical fiction, Gothic, ThrillerThe Historian weaves the Dracula legend with historical research in an epistolary, multi-layered novel. Set among libraries, archives, and sites across Eastern Europe, it explores the nature of history and the nature of evil.
intersection of history and folklorethe nature of good and evilbooks and scholarship (libraries, archives)
Adaptations
- [Film rights (option)] Film rights (no film produced)
Translations
- Published and translated in 28 countries
The Swan Thieves
2010 Literary fictionA psychological novel centered on painters and a portrait, exploring art, memory, and the nature of creativity as the characters' pasts intersect.
art and creativitymemory and the influence of the pastlove and obsession
The Shadow Land
2017 Travel/historical fictionSet largely in Eastern Europe (notably Bulgaria), this is a journey-and-discovery novel in which the protagonist becomes entangled in another person's life and confronts memory and identity.
journey and discoverymemory, loss, and identityEastern European history and culture
Bibliography
- The Historian — 2005
- The Swan Thieves — 2010
- The Shadow Land — 2017
Adaptations
- Film rights: purchased by Sony for approximately USD 1.5 million (no film produced)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- Victorian-influenced, richly descriptive prosebibliographic/scholarly approach (layering sources and letters)multi-layered, episodic narrative structure
- Recurring Motifs
- libraries and archival documentsletters and diariestraces of history and mapsvampire/Dracula legend
Legacy
Elizabeth Kostova achieved major commercial success with her debut novel The Historian and is known for blending vampire legend with scholarly research. In 2007 she founded the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation to support Bulgarian literature and translation, contributing to cultural exchange.
Archives
- Library of Congress (collection of Bulgarian folk music recordings deposited)
In Popular Culture
- The Historian became a bestseller and entered popular culture; the work and author have been referenced in popular media (e.g., used as a clue on Jeopardy!).
Quotes
-
Dracula is a metaphor for the evil that is so hard to undo in history.
Source: Interview/press (quoted in contemporary coverage) (2005)
Trivia
- Her debut novel's manuscript was reportedly the subject of a multi-house auction, with an advance reported around USD 2 million.
- Sony purchased film rights for the novel for approximately USD 1.5 million, but no film has been produced to date.
- The Historian was one of the first debut novels to reach No.1 on The New York Times bestseller list upon release.
- Won the Hopwood Award at the University of Michigan in 2003.
- Established the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation in 2007 to support Bulgarian creative writing and translations.
- Her sister, Victoria Johnson, is also an author.