We at Mythic Delirium Books — that is, Anita and I — want to offer our heartfelt congratulations to Theodora Goss, whose collection of fiction and poetry that we brought out way back in February 2019, Snow White Learns Witchcraft, just won the 2020 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature!

(See the full list of winners here.)

This is the third time Dora has been nominated for the award, and clearly the third time is the charm in this case! (I note, of course for reasons both prideful and crassly mercenary, that her previously nominated works, In the Forest of Forgetting and Songs for Ophelia, are also available from Mythic Delirium Books.)

Here’s just a bit more about what the award is, taken from the Mythopoeic Society website:

The Mythopoeic Society is a national/international organization promoting the study, discussion, and enjoyment of fantastic and mythopoeic literature through books and periodicals, annual conferences, discussion groups, awards, and more. We are especially interested in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams, prominent members of the informal Oxford literary circle known as the “Inklings” (1930s-1950s).

The Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature is given to the fantasy novel, multi-volume novel, or single-author story collection for adults published during the previous year that best exemplifies “the spirit of the Inklings”.

We define this [Mythopoeic Literature] as literature that creates a new and transformative mythology, or incorporates and transforms existing mythological material. Transformation is the key — mere static reference to mythological elements, invented or pre-existing, is not enough. The mythological elements must be of sufficient importance in the work to influence the spiritual, moral, and/or creative lives of the characters, and must reflect and support the author’s underlying themes.

You can watch a video of the virtual ceremony here, with a statement from Dora Goss about magic, myths and fantasy literature:

An additional shout out to Mythic Delirium contributor Yoon Ha Lee, who won the 2020 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature with his novel Dragon Pearl!