Editing C. J. Cherryh (section)

==Biography==
{{BLP sources section|date=September 2014}}
Cherryh was born in 1942 in [[St. Louis, Missouri]] and raised primarily in [[Lawton, Oklahoma]]. She began writing stories at the age of ten when she became frustrated with the cancellation of her favorite TV show, ''[[Flash Gordon#Television|Flash Gordon]]''. In 1964, she received a [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree in [[Latin]] from the [[University of Oklahoma]] ([[Phi Beta Kappa]]), with academic specializations in [[archaeology]], [[mythology]], and the history of [[engineering]]. In 1965, she received a [[Master of Arts]] degree in [[classics]] from [[Johns Hopkins University]] in [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]], where she was a Woodrow Wilson fellow. In the early 1980’s, she was an artist in residence at the University of Central Oklahoma.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cherry, Caroline Janice {{!}} The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture |url=https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=CH026 |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=Oklahoma Historical Society {{!}} OHS |language=en-us}}</ref>

After graduation, Cherryh taught Latin, Ancient Greek, the classics, and ancient history at [[John Marshall High School (Oklahoma)|John Marshall High School]] in the [[Oklahoma City]] public school system.<ref name="Brusso">{{cite magazine |last=Brusso |first=Charlene |date=July 1997 |title=The InQuest Q&A: C.J. Cherryh |magazine=[[InQuest Gamer]] |publisher=[[Wizard Entertainment]] |pages=78–84 |issue=27}}</ref>{{rp|79}} While her job was teaching Latin, her passion was the history, religion, and culture of Rome and Ancient Greece.  During the summers, she would conduct student tours of the ancient ruins in England, France, Spain, and Italy.  In her spare time, she would write, using the [[Roman mythology|mythology of Rome]] and [[Greek mythology|Greece]] as plots for her stories of the future.  Cherryh did not follow the professional path typical of science fiction writers at the time, which was to first publish [[short story|short stories]] in science fiction and fantasy magazines and then progress to novels; she did not consider writing short stories until she had had several novels published.

Cherryh wrote novels in her spare time away from teaching and submitted these manuscripts directly for publication. Initially, she met with little success; various publishers lost manuscripts she had submitted.<ref name="Brusso" />{{rp|80}} She was thus forced to retype them from her own carbon copies, time-consuming but cheaper than paying for [[photocopier|photocopying]]. (Using [[carbon paper]] to make at least one copy of a manuscript was standard practice until the advent of the [[personal computer]].)

Cherryh's breakthrough came in 1975 when [[Donald A. Wollheim]] purchased the two manuscripts she had submitted to [[DAW Books]], ''[[Gate of Ivrel]]'' and ''[[Brothers of Earth]]''.<ref name="Brusso" />{{rp|80}} About the former, Cherryh stated in an interview on ''[[Amazing Stories]]'':

<blockquote>It was the first time a book really found an ending and really worked, because I had made contact with Don Wollheim at DAW, found him interested, and was able to write for a specific editor whose body of work and type of story I knew. It was a good match. It was a set of characters I'd invented when I was, oh, about thirteen. So it was an old favorite of my untold stories, and ended up being the first in print.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://amazingstoriesmag.com/2014/02/interview-award-winning-author-c-j-cherryh/|title = Interview with Award-Winning Author C. J. Cherryh|date = February 19, 2014|access-date = August 5, 2014|work = [[Amazing Stories]] |last = Troughton |first = R.K.}}</ref></blockquote>

The two novels were published in 1976, ''Gate of Ivrel'' preceding ''Brothers of Earth'' by several months (although she had completed and submitted ''Brothers of Earth'' first). The books won her immediate recognition and the [[John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer]] in 1977.

Although not all of her works have been published by DAW Books, during this early period Cherryh developed a strong relationship with the Wollheim family and their publishing company, frequently travelling to [[New York City]] and staying with the Wollheims in their [[Queens]] family home. Other companies who have published her novels include [[Baen Books]], [[HarperCollins]], [[Hachette Book Group USA|Warner Books]], and [[Random House]] (under its [[Del Rey Books]] imprint). She published six additional novels in the late 1970s.

In 1979, her short story "[[Cassandra (short story)|Cassandra]]" won the [[Hugo Award for Best Short Story|Best Short Story Hugo]], and she quit teaching to write full-time. She has since won the [[Hugo Award for Best Novel]] twice, first for ''Downbelow Station'' in 1982 and then again for ''Cyteen'' in 1989.

In addition to developing her own [[fictional universe]]s, Cherryh has contributed to several [[shared universe|shared world]] anthologies, including ''[[Thieves' World]]'', ''[[Heroes in Hell]]'', ''[[Elfquest]]'', ''[[Witch World]]'', ''Magic in Ithkar'', and the ''[[Merovingen Nights]]'' series, which she edited. Her writing has encompassed a variety of science fiction and fantasy subgenres and includes a few short works of non-fiction. Her books have been translated into [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], French, German, [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], Italian, [[Japanese language|Japanese]], [[Latvian language|Latvian]], [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]], [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]], Spanish, and [[Swedish language|Swedish]]. She has also translated several published works of fiction from French into English.

She now lives near [[Spokane, Washington]] with her wife,<ref name=Fancher>{{cite web|last=Fancher|first=Jane|author-link=Jane Fancher|title=Da Big Secrud!|url=http://www.janefancher.com/HarmoniesOfTheNet/2014/05/05/da-big-secrud/|date=May 5, 2014|access-date=May 7, 2014|archive-date=May 5, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505230838/http://www.janefancher.com/HarmoniesOfTheNet/2014/05/05/da-big-secrud/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=Fancher2>{{cite web|last=Fancher|first=Jane|author-link=Jane Fancher|title=Wedding Pix!|url=http://www.janefancher.com/HarmoniesOfTheNet/2014/05/27/wedding-pix/|date=May 27, 2014|access-date=June 22, 2014|archive-date=February 26, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226161243/http://www.janefancher.com/HarmoniesOfTheNet/2014/05/27/wedding-pix/|url-status=dead}}</ref> the science fiction/[[fantasy author]] and artist [[Jane Fancher]]. She enjoys skating and travelling and regularly makes appearances at [[science fiction convention]]s.

Her brother [[David A. Cherry]] is a science fiction and fantasy artist.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/cherry_david_a | title=SFE: Cherry, David A }}</ref>