Otherwise Award (formerly the James Tiptree, Jr. Award)
1 appearances
-
Edition 13 (2003) Winner
Matt Ruff
マット・ラフ
Matto Rafu
Aliases:
Matthew Theron Ruff
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1965-09-08 （Queens, New York City, U.S.）
- Nationality
- American
- Languages
- English
- Religion
- Lutheranism
- Residence History
- Brooklyn, New York City → Queens, New York City → Manhattan, New York City → Ithaca, New York (Cornell University) → Seattle, Washington
Career
- Occupations
- author, novelist
- Active Years
- 1988-2024
- Influenced By
- Alison Lurie, Frank McCourt
- Nominations
- International Dublin Literary Award longlist (Set This House in Order), Sidewise Award for Alternate History (The Mirage), World Fantasy Award Novel (Lovecraft Country)
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stuyvesant High School | — | — | — | c. 1979-1983 | United States |
| Cornell University | College of Arts and Sciences | English Department | Bachelor of Arts | 1983-1987 | United States |
Stuyvesant High School
Period:
c. 1979-1983
Year of Graduation:
1983
Country:
United States
Teacher: Frank McCourt
Cornell University
College of Arts and Sciences
/ English Department
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Period:
1983-1987
Year of Graduation:
1987
Country:
United States
Studied under Alison Lurie. Senior thesis in Honors English became first novel Fool on the Hill.
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | James Tiptree, Jr. Award | Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls | — | — | winner |
| 2007 | PNBA Book Award | Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls | — | Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association | winner |
| 2007 | Washington State Book Award | Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls | — | — | winner |
| 2006 | National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship | — | Prose | National Endowment for the Arts | recipient |
| 2008 | Alex Award | Bad Monkeys | — | American Library Association | winner |
James Tiptree, Jr. Award
2007
Work:
Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls
Result:
winner
PNBA Book Award
2007
Work:
Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls
Organization:
Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association
Result:
winner
Washington State Book Award
2007
Work:
Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls
Result:
winner
National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship
2006
Category:
Prose
Organization:
National Endowment for the Arts
Result:
recipient
Alex Award
2008
Work:
Bad Monkeys
Organization:
American Library Association
Result:
winner
Awards & Nominations
Endeavour Award
1 appearances
-
Edition 19 (2017) Winner
Works
Major Works
Fool on the Hill
1988 FantasyFantasy novel drawing on experiences living in Risley Residential College at Cornell.
college lifefantasystorytelling
Bad Monkeys
2007 ThrillerA woman working for a secret organization.
conspiracymorality
The Mirage
2012 Alternate HistoryThriller in a world where 9/11 was an Iraqi attack on America.
terrorismreality vs illusion
Lovecraft Country
2016 Horror, Science fictionIn 1954 Jim Crow America, a Black family encounters Lovecraftian horrors.
racismLovecraft mythossupernatural
Adaptations
- [TV series] Lovecraft Country / Misha Green (2020)
Bibliography
- Fool on the Hill
- Sewer, Gas & Electric: The Public Works Trilogy
- Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls
- Bad Monkeys
- The Mirage
- Lovecraft Country
- 88 Names
- The Destroyer of Worlds: A Return to Lovecraft Country
Adaptations
- Lovecraft Country (HBO TV series, 2020)
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- comic novelspeculative fictionsatirical
- Recurring Motifs
- dissociative identityalternate realityracial issuessupernatural horror
Legacy
American author of thrillers, science fiction, and comic novels, best known for Lovecraft Country, adapted into an HBO TV series. Winner of James Tiptree, Jr. Award and others.
In Popular Culture
- Known as the author of the original novel for the HBO TV series Lovecraft Country.
Trivia
- Born to a Lutheran family; father was a hospital chaplain, maternal grandfather a missionary.
- Decided at age 5 to be a fiction writer; mother gifted him an IBM Selectric typewriter.
- Lost his mother during his last semester at Cornell.
- First novel Fool on the Hill was written as his Honors English senior thesis.
- Has written several unpublished novels.