American science fiction writer Norton Andre: biography and creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Norton Andre is a great lady of science fiction who has received countless awards for her writing throughout her writing career. She was truly a great woman. About one hundred and thirty full-fledged novels came out from under her pen, and she continued to write almost until her death (and she died at a very old age of 93).

Biography of the writer

Norton Andre, before her writing career, had a completely different name - Alice Marie Norton. She was born in 1912, February 17, in the USA (Ohio, Cleveland town). Her father's name was Adalbert Freeley Norton, and he owned a company that was engaged in sewing carpets. Her mother's name was Bertha Stemm, she was a housewife, and it was her mother who subsequently helped the writer correct errors in her works.

Little Alice was not an only child, she had a sister who was seventeen years older. Perhaps it was because of this difference in age that the sisters were not very close. Also, the future writer did not communicate with herpeers, preferring them to read books. It should be noted that special attention was paid to this in the Norton house. Every week the family visited the local library, and Alice's mother began to read books and poems to her daughter from infancy. Later, when the future writer went to school, her parents rewarded her with books for good studies. All this had an impact on the fate of the younger Norton.

While studying at school, Alice began to write her first stories, which were published in the school wall newspaper (she was a literary editor in it). It was at this time that her first book was written, which was published in 1938. Her further studies continued in 1930 at Case Western Reserve University. She studied there until 1932. In the same year, she went to work as a librarian at the Nottingham Library in Cleveland. She worked in it for almost twenty years.

Then she was a reader for Martin Greenberg for eight years (publishing house "Gnome Press"). Having finished working with him, Norton no longer looked for a permanent income, but continued writing books, devoting herself entirely to this matter. In 1966, the writer moved to Winter Park in Florida for he alth reasons. Here she lived until 1997, after which she moved to Tennessee, to the city of Murfreesboro. It was here that she lived until the end of her days. The writer died in 2005, on the fourteenth of March. She is ninety-three years old.

Beginning of creative activity Norton

The first book Norton published in 1934 was the military novel Theprince." On the advice of her publishers in the same year, the writer took the pseudonym Andre. They believed that this would draw more attention to the books that Norton published (let's just say, for that time we suck not for women). Andre Norton, whose books are so numerous, began writing fantasy novels in 1947. The first of these was the work "People of the Crater". Since then, she has written over one hundred and thirty works.

Multiple Writer Awards

Norton Andre has received many awards for her creative work. Let's list the most significant of them.

• In 1964, the writer became a nominee for the Hugo Award for Best Novel (her work “The Witching World”, written a year earlier, was nominated).
• In 1965, Norton received the American Scouts Association Award.
• Won the Hugo Award in 1977 (Gandalf, Grandmaster Fantasy).
• In 1979, the writer won the Balrog Prize. The judges awarded her a Lifetime Achievement Award.
• In 1983, Norton was nominated for the Balrog Award for Professional Achievement in Fifty Years of Writing.
• In 1984, the writer won the Nebula Award, "Grandmaster".
• She won the World Fantasy Award in 1987.
• In 1997 Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.
• Won the Southeastern Science Fiction Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.

Besides this, AmericanThe Science Fiction Writers Association honored Andre Norton with the title of Grand Master. To this day, she remains the only woman to receive it.

Cycle of works “The Witching World”

This cycle is considered to be one of the most famous ones written by Andre Norton. There are numerous books in it (more than thirty pieces). In addition, the cycle itself is divided into several more series. Consider them.

• “Estcarp” “(Sorceress of the Sorcerous World”, “Sorcerous World”, “Three Against the Sorcerous World”, “Web of the Sorcerous World”, “Sorcerer of the Sorcerous World”, “Three of Swords”, etc.).
• "The legends of the witching world." This collection includes the novels Blood of the Falcon, Spider Silk, Toads of Grimmerdale, Sandy Sisters, Legacy from Sorn Mire, Sword of Unbelief, Changeling.
• “High Holleck” (“Year of the Unicorn”, “Crystal Gryphon”, “Tales of the Wizarding World”, “Leopard Belt”, “Burse of Zarstor”, “Gryphon Triumph”, etc.).
• Also includes the “Great Change” series, which also includes “Secrets of the Witch World”.

Stargate book series

This series belongs to the combat fantasy series and consists of the following books:

• "Operation “Search in Time”.
• "Crossroads of time".
• "Searching at the crossroads of time".
• "Stargate" (the book was written in 1958).

Rogue Traders Book Series

This series of novels tells about the adventures of Rogue Traders who travel on their ship through the expanses of the vast universe. Each book tells about their adventures and how to deal with the enemies they meet on their way.

• "Star Exiles".
• "Flight to Yiktar".
• "Dangerous hunt".
• "Brotherhood of Shadows".
• "Moon of three rings".

List of other works by Norton

Of course, the above series are far from all that Andre Norton has written throughout her writing career. There were many more. Let's look at some of them. Star Hunter is about a little boy who goes missing during a spaceship crash in the jungle. They began to look for him only after the news that he was the heir to a large fortune. But it is very easy to replace a young man who has already grown up with another who is not an heir. You can read about all the adventures of these characters in the book “Star Hunter”.

Next, we list the most interesting books in order (series and non-series books).

• Series “Queen of the Sun”. It includes such a famous work as "Sargasso in Space" and others.
• The “Great Change” series (it included the following works: "Port of the Lost Ships", "Exile", "Falcon's Hope", etc.).
• "Fan with eyes outopal".
• "Fragrance of magic", "Wind in stone".
• "Iron Cage".
• "There is no night without stars".
• "The Prince orders".
• "Son of the Star Man".
• "Treasures of the Mysterious Race" and many more.

Conclusion

As you can see, Norton Andre lived a rather eventful life and wrote a large number of works, which are read by numerous fans of the classics of this genre. If you want to read her books, then start with the most famous ones, you will surely like them.