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Ellen Kushner

Goodreads Author

Born

in Washington, DC , The United States

October 06

Website

http://www.ellenkushner.com

Twitter

EllenKushner

Genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy, Mannerpunk, Gay and Lesbian

Member Since

February 2008

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Ellen Kushner weaves together multiple careers as a writer, radio host, teacher, performer and public speaker.

A graduate of Barnard College, she also attended Bryn Mawr College, and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. She began her career in publishing as a fiction editor in New York City, but left to write her first novel Swordspoint, which has become a cult classic, hailed as the progenitor of the “mannerpunk” (or “Fantasy of Manners”) school of urban fantasy. Swordspoint was followed by Thomas the Rhymer (World Fantasy Award and the Mythopoeic Award), and two more novels in her “Riverside” series. In 2015, Thomas the Rhymer was published in the UK as part of the Gollancz “Fantasy Masterworks” line.

In addition, her short fiction appears regularly Ellen Kushner weaves together multiple careers as a writer, radio host, teacher, performer and public speaker.

A graduate of Barnard College, she also attended Bryn Mawr College, and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. She began her career in publishing as a fiction editor in New York City, but left to write her first novel Swordspoint, which has become a cult classic, hailed as the progenitor of the “mannerpunk” (or “Fantasy of Manners”) school of urban fantasy. Swordspoint was followed by Thomas the Rhymer (World Fantasy Award and the Mythopoeic Award), and two more novels in her “Riverside” series. In 2015, Thomas the Rhymer was published in the UK as part of the Gollancz “Fantasy Masterworks” line.

In addition, her short fiction appears regularly in numerous anthologies. Her stories have been translated into a wide variety of languages, including Japanese, French, Dutch, German, Spanish, Latvian and Finnish.

Upon moving to Boston, she became a radio host for WGBH-FM. In 1996, she created Sound & Spirit, PRI’s award-winning national public radio series. With Ellen as host and writer, the program aired nationally until 2010; many of the original shows can now be heard archived online.

As a live stage performer, her solo spoken word works include Esther: the Feast of Masks, and The Golden Dreydl: a Klezmer ‘Nutcracker’ for Chanukah (with Shirim Klezmer Orchestra). In 2008, Vital Theatre commissioned her to script a full-scale theatrical version. The Klezmer Nutcracker played to sold-out audiences in New York City, with Kushner in the role of the magical Tante Miriam.

In 2012, Kushner entered the world of audiobooks, narrating and co-producing “illuminated” versions of all three of the “Riverside” novels with SueMedia Productions for Neil Gaiman Presents at Audible.com—and winning a 2013 Audie Award for Swordspoint.

Other recent projects include the urban fantasy anthology Welcome to Bordertown (co-edited with Holly Black), and The Witches of Lublin, a musical audio drama written with Elizabeth Schwartz and Yale Strom (which one Gabriel, Gracie and Wilbur Awards in 2012). In 2015 she contributed to and oversaw the creation of the online Riverside series prequel Tremontaine for Serial Box with collaborators Joel Derfner, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Malinda Lo, Racheline Maltese and Patty Bryant.

A dauntless traveler, Ellen Kushner has been a guest of honor at conventions all over the world. She regularly teaches writing at the prestigious Clarion Workshop and the Hollins University Graduate Program in Children’s Literature.

Ellen Kushner is a co-founder and past president of the Interstitial Arts Foundation, an organization supporting work that falls between genre categories. She lives in New York City with author and educator Delia Sherman, a lot of books, airplane and theater ticket stubs, and no cats whatsoever. ...more

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Ellen Kushner’s books

Average rating: 3.86 · 44,764 ratings · 5,071 reviews · 139 distinct works • Similar authors

	Swordspoint (Riverside, #1) 3.80 avg rating — 11,006 ratings — published 1987 — 34 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Privilege of the Sword (Riverside, #2) 3.93 avg rating — 5,450 ratings — published 2006	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Thomas the Rhymer 3.89 avg rating — 3,868 ratings — published 1990 — 29 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Fall of the Kings (Riverside, #3) by Ellen Kushner (Goodreads Author), Delia Sherman (Goodreads Author) 3.66 avg rating — 2,342 ratings — published 2002	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Tremontaine: The Complete Season One (Tremontaine #1.1-1.13) by Ellen Kushner (Goodreads Author), Alaya Dawn Johnson (Goodreads Author), Malinda Lo (Goodreads Author) 3.97 avg rating — 522 ratings — published 2016 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Arrivals (Tremontaine, #1.1) 3.98 avg rating — 237 ratings — published 2015 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Man with the Knives by Ellen Kushner (Goodreads Author), Tom Canty (Illustrator) 4.26 avg rating — 176 ratings — published 2010 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Tremontaine: The Complete Season Two (Tremontaine, #2.1-2.13) by Ellen Kushner (Goodreads Author), Joel Derfner (Goodreads Author), Tessa Gratton (Goodreads Author) 4.29 avg rating — 151 ratings — published 2017 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Outlaws of Sherwood Forest (Choose Your Own Adventure, #47) by Ellen Kushner (Goodreads Author), Judith Mitchell (Illustrator) 3.61 avg rating — 136 ratings — published 1985 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Golden Dreydl 3.38 avg rating — 121 ratings — published 2007 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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767 posts
Ellen Kushner's Blog

New Swordspoint Story, Last-Minute Gifts, and a Riddle

I'm not usually much of a short story writer, but I just published a new one in the new anthology "Silk & Steel," edited by Janine A. Southard. It's another in the "family saga" that my first novel, Swordspoint, seems to have spawned. You can get it as a last-minute gift for someone in e-book form.

And speaking of last-minute gifts. . . . Here is my new riddle:

I am the gift that cannot be wrapped.
W Read more of this blog post »

5 likes · Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on December 21, 2020 11:16

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Holly Black is one of the YA world's premier experts on faeries (she also has the pointy ears to prove it). Her enchanting books include The...

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Ellen’s Recent Updates

Ellen Kushner and 96 other people liked Bradley's review of Swordspoint (Riverside, #1): "First, I should point out that the audiobook of this novel is a fantastic treat, including multiple voices including the author, herself, but also ambient sounds such as background conversations and even a cat! Music, too! But don't let that dissuade" Read more of this review »
Jan 04, 2026 09:09PM · see review
Ellen Kushner shared a quote “It had been a good day. Most days were - if you set the intention for goodness. Fen held intention in high esteem. That was the role of the artist, after all: to see the world not only as it was, but as it could be. An empty stage . . . could become a forest inhabited by nine-headed birds and wise goats able to tell truth from lies. A canvas could become a lake, moony with magic toads, or a sky tangled with dragons. Surely, a day was the same. A blank page to fill with whatever made the imagination buzz. So yes, she _could_ have taken today as simply another long stretch of aching hours giving tours to sticky-fingered schoolchildren with short-tempered teachers. But what was the fun in that? No - today, she had led small, growing minds through a labyrinth of sounds and sights. She had planted tiny pipe organs in their chests that would oompah-pah in their dreams.” GennaRose Nethercott
Jan 04, 2026 09:08PM · like · more quotes by GennaRose Nethercott · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

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Quotes by Ellen Kushner (?)

“Let the fairy tale begin on a winter's morning, then, with one drop of blood newly-fallen on the ivory snow: a drop as bright as a clear-cut ruby, red as a single spot of claret on the lace cuff.”
― Ellen Kushner, Swordspoint

30 likes

“Not being the sort to throw a book, she pounded her fist on her cushion.”
― Ellen Kushner

tags: books, reading

23 likes

“There's the road to heaven, and there's the road to hell, and there? That's the road to Faerie.”
― Ellen Kushner, Thomas the Rhymer

19 likes

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Polls

February Fantasy -- The following poll decides which two books will go into the run off poll for the Fantasy BOTM for February 2017.

The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher

18 votes, 22.0%

Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner

16 votes, 19.5%

Magician: Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist

13 votes, 15.9%

The Bees by Laline Paull

12 votes, 14.6%

Rise of Empire by Michael J. Sullivan

10 votes, 12.2%

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

5 votes, 6.1%

An Accident of Stars by Foz Meadows

3 votes, 3.7%

Borderline by Mishell Baker

3 votes, 3.7%

Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher

2 votes, 2.4%

82 total votes

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Ellen’s Quotes

“It had been a good day. Most days were - if you set the intention for goodness. Fen held intention in high esteem. That was the role of the artist, after all: to see the world not only as it was, but as it could be. An empty stage . . . could become a forest inhabited by nine-headed birds and wise goats able to tell truth from lies. A canvas could become a lake, moony with magic toads, or a sky tangled with dragons. Surely, a day was the same. A blank page to fill with whatever made the imagination buzz. So yes, she _could_ have taken today as simply another long stretch of aching hours giving tours to sticky-fingered schoolchildren with short-tempered teachers. But what was the fun in that? No - today, she had led small, growing minds through a labyrinth of sounds and sights. She had planted tiny pipe organs in their chests that would oompah-pah in their dreams.”
― GennaRose Nethercott, Thistlefoot

tags: art, intentional-living

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