= Andre_Norton =

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= Andre_Norton =
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Introduction
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Andre Alice Norton (born Alice Mary Norton, February 17, 1912 – March
17, 2005) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, who
also wrote works of historical and contemporary fiction. She wrote
primarily under the pen name Andre Norton, but also under Andrew North
and Allen Weston. She was the first woman to be Gandalf Grand Master
of Fantasy, to be SFWA Grand Master, and to be inducted by the Science
Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Biography
===========
Alice Mary Norton was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1912. Her parents
were Adalbert Freely Norton, who owned a rug company, and Bertha Stemm
Norton. Alice began writing at Collinwood High School in Cleveland,
under the tutelage of Sylvia Cochrane. She was the editor of a
literary page in the school's paper, 'The Collinwood Spotlight', for
which she wrote short stories. During this time, she wrote her first
book, 'Ralestone Luck', which was eventually published as her second
novel in 1938.

After graduating from high school in 1930, Norton planned to become a
teacher, and began studying at Flora Stone Mather College of Western
Reserve University. However, in 1932 she had to leave because of the
Depression and began working for the Cleveland Library System, where
she remained for 18 years, latterly in the children's section of the
Nottingham Branch Library in Cleveland. In a 1996 interview she
recalled defending acquisition of 'The Hobbit' by J. R. R. Tolkien for
the library. In 1934, she legally changed her name to Andre Alice
Norton, a pen name she had adopted for her first book, published later
that year, to increase her marketability, since boys were the main
audience for fantasy.

During 1940-1941, she worked as a special librarian in the cataloging
department of the Library of Congress. She was involved in a project
related to alien citizenship which was abruptly terminated upon the
American entry into World War II. In 1941 she bought a bookstore
called Mystery House in Mount Rainier, Maryland, the eastern neighbor
of Washington, D.C. The business failed, and she returned to the
Cleveland Public Library until 1950, when she retired due to ill
health. She then began working as a reader for publisher-editor Martin
Greenberg at Gnome Press, a small press in New York City that focused
on science fiction. She remained until 1958, when, with 21 novels
published, she became a full-time professional writer.

As Norton's health became uncertain, she moved to Winter Park, Florida
in November 1966, where she remained until 1997. She moved to
Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1997 and was under hospice care from
February 21, 2005. She died at home on March 17, 2005, of congestive
heart failure.

Literary career
=================
In 1934, her first book, 'The Prince Commands, being sundry adventures
of Michael Karl, sometime crown prince & pretender to the throne
of Morvania', with illustrations by Kate Seredy, was published by D.
Appleton-Century Company (cataloged by the U.S. Library of Congress as
by "André Norton"). She went on to write several historical novels for
the juvenile (now called "young adult") market.

Norton's first published science fiction was a short story, "The
People of the Crater", which appeared under the name "Andrew North" as
pages 4-18 of the inaugural 1947 number of 'Fantasy Book', a magazine
from Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc. Her first fantasy novel, 'Huon
of the Horn', published by Harcourt Brace under her own name in 1951,
adapted the 13th-century story of Huon, Duke of Bordeaux. Her first
science fiction novel, 'Star Man's Son, 2250 A.D.', appeared from
Harcourt in 1952. She became a prolific novelist in the 1950s, with
many of her books published for the juvenile market, at least in their
original hardcover editions.

As of 1958, when she became a full-time professional writer, 'Kirkus'
had reviewed 16 of her novels, and awarded four of them starred
reviews. Her four starred reviews to 1957 had been awarded for three
historical adventure novels--'Follow the Drum' (1942), 'Scarface'
(1948), 'Yankee Privateer' (1955)--and one cold war adventure, 'At
Swords' Points' (1954). She received four starred reviews
subsequently, latest in 1966, including three for science fiction.

Norton was twice nominated for the Hugo Award, in 1964 for the novel
'Witch World' and in 1967 for the novelette "Wizard's World". She was
nominated three times for the World Fantasy Award for lifetime
achievement, winning the award in 1998. Norton won a number of other
genre awards and regularly had works appear in the 'Locus' annual
"best of year" polls.

She was a founding member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of
America (SAGA), a loose-knit group of heroic fantasy authors founded
in the 1960s, led by Lin Carter, with entry by fantasy credentials
alone. Norton was the only woman among the original eight members.
Some works by SAGA members were published in Lin Carter's 'Flashing
Swords!' anthologies.

In 1976, Gary Gygax invited Norton to play 'Dungeons & Dragons' in
his Greyhawk world. Norton subsequently wrote 'Quag Keep', which
involved a group of characters who travel from the real world to
Greyhawk. It was the first novel to be set, at least partially, in the
Greyhawk setting and, according to 'Alternative Worlds', the first to
be based on 'D&D'. 'Quag Keep' was excerpted in Issue 12 of 'The
Dragon' (February 1978) just prior to the book's release. She and Jean
Rabe were collaborating on the sequel to 'Quag Keep' when Norton died.
'Return to Quag Keep' was completed by Rabe and published by Tor Books
in January 2006.

Her final complete novel, 'Three Hands for Scorpio', was published on
April 1, 2005. Besides 'Return to Quag Keep', Tor has published two
more novels with Norton and Rabe credited as co-authors, 'Dragon Mage'
(November 2006) and 'Taste of Magic' (January 2008).

File:Fantasy book 1947 v1 n1.jpg|Norton's novelette "The People of the
Crater", published under her "Andrew North" pseudonym, was the cover
story in the debut issue of 'Fantasy Book' in 1947.
File:Fantasy book 1948 n3.jpg|"The Gifts of Asti", also published
under the "North" byline, took the cover of the third issue of
'Fantasy Book' in 1948.
File:Voodoo Planet, by Andrew North - cover - Project Gutenberg eText
18846.jpg|Cover of 'Voodoo Planet' by Andrew North, artist Ed
Valigursky; half of Ace Double #D-345 (1959)

Series
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Norton wrote more than a dozen speculative fiction series, but her
longest, and longest-running project was "Witch World", which began
with the novel 'Witch World' in 1963. The first six novels were Ace
Books paperback originals published from 1963 to 1968. From the 1970s
most of the books in the series were first published in hardcover
editions. From the 1980s some were written by Norton and a co-author,
and others were anthologies of short fiction for which she was editor.
(Witch World became a shared universe.) There were dozens of books in
all.

The five novels of The Cycle of Oak, Yew, Ash, and Rowan, 'To the King
a Daughter', 'Knight or Knave', 'A Crown Disowned', 'Dragon Blade',
and 'The Knight of the Red Beard', were written with Sasha Miller.
The fifth and last novel was dedicated "To my late collaborator, Andre
Norton, whose vision inspired the NordornLand cycle." ("NordornLand
cycle" is another name for this cycle.)

Legacy
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Often called the Grande Dame of Science Fiction and Fantasy by
biographers such as J. M. Cornwell, and organizations such as Science
Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, 'Publishers Weekly', and
'Time', Andre Norton wrote novels for more than 70 years. She had a
profound influence on the entire genre, having more than 300 published
titles read by at least four generations of science fiction and
fantasy readers and writers. Notable authors who cite her influence
include Greg Bear, Lois McMaster Bujold, C. J. Cherryh, Cecilia
Dart-Thornton, Tanya Huff, Mercedes Lackey, Charles de Lint, Joan D.
Vinge, David Weber, K. D. Wentworth, and Catherine Asaro.

On February 20, 2005, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of
America, which had honored Norton with its Grand Master Award in 1984,
announced the creation of the Andre Norton Award, to be given each
year for an outstanding work of fantasy or science fiction for the
young adult literature market, beginning with 2005 publications. While
the Norton Award is not a Nebula Award, it is voted on by SFWA members
on the Nebula ballot and shares some procedures with the Nebula
Awards. Nominally for a young adult book, actually the eligible class
is middle grade and young adult novels. This added a category for
genre fiction to be recognized and supported for young readers. Unlike
Nebulas, there is a jury whose function is to expand the ballot beyond
the six books with most nominations by members.

Norton received the Inkpot Award in 1989.

High Hallack Library
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The High Hallack Library was a facility that Norton was instrumental
in organizing and opening. Designed as a research facility for genre
writers, and scholars of "popular" literature (the genres of science
fiction, fantasy, mystery, western, romance, gothic, and horror), it
was located near Norton's home in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

The facility, named after one of the continents in Norton's 'Witch
World' series, was home to more than 10,000 texts, videos, and various
other media. Attached to the facility were three guest rooms, allowing
authors and scholars the chance to stay on-site to facilitate their
research goals.

The facility was opened on February 28, 1999, and operated until March
2004. Most of the collection was sold during the closing days of the
facility. The declining health of Andre Norton was one of the leading
causes of its closing.

See also
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* Andre Norton bibliography
* :Category:Works by Andre Norton

General sources
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* Bankston, John. 'Andre Norton'. New York: Chelsea House, 2010.
* Schlobin, Roger C. 'Andre Norton, a Primary and Secondary
Bibliography'. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1980.
* Wolf, Virginia L. Andre Norton: Feminist Pied Piper in SF.
'Children's Literature Association Quarterly'. Volume 10, Number 2,
Summer 1985 pp. 66-70.
* Yoke, Carl B. 'Roger Zelazny and Andre Norton, Proponents of
Individualism'. Columbus: State Library of Ohio, 1979.
* Yoke, Carl B. "Slaying The Dragon Within: Andre Norton's Female
Heroes", 'Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts', Vol. 4, No. 3 (15)
(1991), pp. 79-93.

External links
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Digital collections
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*
*
*

Institutional collections
*
[https://cplorg.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p4014coll13/id/649/rec/6
Andre Norton correspondences] in the digital archives of Cleveland
Public Library. The library also includes several images of the
[https://cplorg.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p4014coll13/search/searchterm/dollhouses%20--%20photographs!%22andre%20norton%22/field/subjec!all/mode/exact!all/conn/and!all/order/nosort/ad/asc
doll house she donated to the library], still on display in the Youth
Services Department. One letter in the collection is from Houghton
Mifflin Company concerning Andre Norton's application for a Literary
Fellowship award.
*[https://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/n/norton_am.htm Andre (Alice
Mary) Norton Papers], Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse
University

Other information
* [http://andre-norton.com Andre-Norton.com], "The Estate Authorized
Andre Norton Website" w/ complete Bibliography and much more.
*
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*
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License
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Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Norton