Where Late the Kate Wilhelm Wrote

March 11, 2018 8:24 AM

Kate Wilhelm, award winning author of science fiction and mystery books, has died at age 89. Her son posted an announcement on facebook.

Wilhelm was best known for her series of Barbara Holloway mystery novels and a number of science fiction short stories and novels, particularly the Hugo-winning novel Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang. She and her second husband, Damon Knight, founded and taught at several science fiction writer's workshops for years, including the well-regarded Clarion Workshop.

posted by rmd1023 (33 comments total)

Her Hugo-nominated short story, "Forever Yours, Anna",which was printed in the 1980's (87, I think) in Omni magazine stuck in my head for years even though I couldn't remember the author or the exact title. During the brief window when Omni was in the Internet Archive, I managed to track it down again.
posted by rmd1023 at 8:28 AM on March 11, 2018 [2 favorites]

I've read and enjoyed many of her SF and mystery books; was just checking publication order on some of them a couple days ago. She'll be missed.

Also, I once made a poster out of an old cover for her novel The Killer Thing, because it is delightful and should go back on my wall.

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posted by asperity at 8:29 AM on March 11, 2018

I forgot to include a couple of links: an announcement from File 770 about her death. Excellent overview of her from Infinity Box Press, and I also meant to include her website, which has not yet been updated.
posted by rmd1023 at 8:42 AM on March 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

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posted by Kattullus at 9:03 AM on March 11, 2018

Also worth checking out: this interview with Amazing Stories in which she describes being a woman writer in early SF (sadly not surprisingly, not a great experience) and designing the Nebula Award.

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posted by Halloween Jack at 9:15 AM on March 11, 2018 [4 favorites]

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posted by evilDoug at 10:52 AM on March 11, 2018

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posted by Token Meme at 11:28 AM on March 11, 2018

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Really liked her writing. So evocative of a specific place in much of it too.
posted by leslies at 11:34 AM on March 11, 2018

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posted by offalark at 3:02 PM on March 11, 2018

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posted by mdrosen at 4:14 PM on March 11, 2018

Thanks to rmd1023's suggestion, I tracked down Forever Yours, Anna in Google Books and read it this morning. Interesting work - particularly how it feels like an early linkage to Ted Chiang's Story of Your Life, but with a bit more world weariness to it.
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posted by mygothlaundry at 10:54 PM on March 11, 2018

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Her diary of the Clarion workshop and her own writing life Storyteller is a great read.
posted by Happy Dave at 12:22 PM on March 12, 2018 [1 favorite]

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posted by emmet at 8:40 AM on March 13, 2018

Dammit.

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posted by but no cigar at 11:13 PM on March 16, 2018