Holly Black

[Devyn]

I really doubt she needs much of an INTRO--BUT:
CHAT WITH HOLLY BLACK!!!

Holly Black is the bestselling author of contemporary fantasy novels for teens and children. Born in New Jersey in 1971, Holly grew up in a decrepit Victorian house piled with books and oddments. After graduating from The College of New Jersey in 1995, Holly worked as a production editor on medical journals and attended graduate school at Rutgers University in pursuit of a Masters in Library Science.

Her first book, Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale, was published in 2002 by Simon & Schuster. Tithe was called "dark, edgy, beautifully written and compulsively readable" by Booklist, received starred reviews from Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus Reviews, and was included in the American Library Association's Best Books for Young Adults. Holly has since written two other books in the same universe, Valiant (2005), and the sequel to Tithe, Ironside (2007). Valiant was recorded as an unabridged audiobook by Renee Raudman for Listening Library, was a finalist for the Mythopoeic Award for Young Readers and the recipient of the Andre Norton Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.

Holly collaborated with her long-time friend, Caldecott award winning artist, Tony DiTerlizzi, to create the bestselling Spiderwick Chronicles. The first two books, The Field Guide and The Seeing Stone were released together in 2003 by Simon & Schuster, with the next three, Lucinda's Secret (2003), The Ironwood Tree (2004) and The Wrath of Mulgarath (2004), following in rapid succession. The Wrath of Mulgarath climbed to #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. The five-book serial has been called "vintage Victorian fantasy" by the New York Post and Time Magazine reported that "the books wallow in their dusty Olde Worlde charm." The chapter books were recorded as an audiobook by Mark Hamill for Listening Library.

The lavishly illustrated Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to The Fantastical World Around You (2005), The Notebook for Fantastical Observations (2005), and Care and Feeding of Sprites (2006) expanded the Spiderwick universe. To date, the books have been translated into 32 languages. Three more Spiderwick chapter books are planned, with the first one expected to be released in Fall of 2007.

The Spiderwick Chronicles are being adapted into a film by Paramount Pictures in conjunction with Nickelodeon Films starring Freddie Highmore and Sarah Bolger with Mark Waters as the director.

Holly has also been a frequent contributor to anthologies, including The Faery Reel: Tales from the Twilight Realm (2004), Young Warriors: Stories of Strength (2005), Coyote Road (2007), 21 Proms (2007), The Restless Dead (2007), So Fey (2007), and Villains (2008).

She is currently working on a graphic novel series, The Good Neighbors, with Eisner nominated artist Ted Naifeh, and a new novel called The White Cat.

Holly lives in a Tudor Revival house in Massachusetts with her husband, Theo, and an ever-expanding collection of books. She spends a lot of her time in cafes, drinking endless cups of coffee and glaring at her laptop.

Website: http://blackholly.com/

[img]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y65/devynwonder/FaerieDrink/nixiescover.jpg[/img]
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[url=http://faeriedrink.com/chat/viewtopic.php?t=6]Rules[/url] x

[blackholly]

This is my first post on the board, but I am really pleased to be here. Ask me things - my parents and Theo's parents are staying with me over the holidays, so I am looking for ways to procrastinate!

[childofthe80s]

[color=darkblue]Hi Holly! I met you at the NCTE meeting in NY. I am currently re-reading Ironside. I am really excited about the Spiderwick movie. From the trailer it looks like they have captured the magic.

A non-book related question- What is your favorite holiday tradition?
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[blackholly]

[quote="childofthe80s"][color=darkblue]Hi Holly! I met you at the NCTE meeting in NY. I am currently re-reading Ironside. I am really excited about the Spiderwick movie. From the trailer it looks like they have captured the magic.

A non-book related question- What is your favorite holiday tradition?
[/color][/quote]

I really love the Spiderwick movie - I've seen it three times and I'm actually looking forward to seeing it again, so I hope you like it too.

As for my favorite holiday tradition (I'm assuming you mean winter holidays), this is going to sound weird but when I was a kid, my mom would always put an orange in our stockings along with little stuff and now that I am often the host, I always make sure to put oranges in their stockings. Aromatic and also tides one over until the inevitably so-late-that-it-might-be-dinner-for-other-people brunch.

[Neverwhore]

Random tangent: I have that Bowie icon Labyrinth is one of my favourite movies.

Obvious question: Did you ever think that when you first published [u]Tithe[/u] you'd be this well-known? That you'd have a hit series and a movie coming out based on it?
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[i]Pixie dust. Like angels make angel dust. International drug cartels grab seraphin and shake 'em. Priests who sweep up churches put that stuff in Ziploc baggies.[/i] - Corny

[blackholly]

[quote="Neverwhore"]Random tangent: I have that Bowie icon Labyrinth is one of my favourite movies.

Obvious question: Did you ever think that when you first published [u]Tithe[/u] you'd be this well-known? That you'd have a hit series and a movie coming out based on it?[/quote]

Do you know who made the icon? I want to credit them, but I don't even remember who I stole it from.

Obvious answer: No way. I was just so excited to actually have Tithe be published (and finished!) that the rest was totally beyond my conception of reality. I never even expected to be able to be a full-time writer, no less have a movie based on my work (and Tony's, of course, but I always expected that Tony would have a movie based on his work 'cause he's a genius like that). Heck, I wasn't even sure I could write a second novel back then.

[Neverwhore]

[quote="blackholly"]Do you know who made the icon? I want to credit them, but I don't even remember who I stole it from.[/quote]

No, sadly . I ransacked it from someone's greatestjournal who, unfortunatly, didn't credit anyone for it.
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[i]Pixie dust. Like angels make angel dust. International drug cartels grab seraphin and shake 'em. Priests who sweep up churches put that stuff in Ziploc baggies.[/i] - Corny

[blackholly]

Yeah, I googled and found another someone using it uncredited.

I love it, though!

[Neverwhore]

Agreed. Bowie as Jareth the goblin king rocks my socks.

[img]http://i12.tinypic.com/4furv43.png[/img]
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[i]Pixie dust. Like angels make angel dust. International drug cartels grab seraphin and shake 'em. Priests who sweep up churches put that stuff in Ziploc baggies.[/i] - Corny

[pennyfromheaven]

Hi Holly!

I'm a huge fan of--would you call it the Ironside series? Did you invent many species of faery? Did you find descriptions of them in storybooks?

[blackholly]

[quote="pennyfromheaven"]Hi Holly!

I'm a huge fan of--would you call it the Ironside series? Did you invent many species of faery? Did you find descriptions of them in storybooks?[/quote]

Thank you! I call it the Modern Faerie Tale series. Actually, I didn't invent any of the types of faeries, although some of the individual descriptions are invented. If you're interested, I'd recommend W.Y. Evans-Wentz's [i]Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries[/i], Dermot MacManus's [i]The Middle Kingdom[/i] and Katharine Briggs's [i]Encyclopedia of Faeries[/i] (or really anything by Briggs) as really good places to start.

[Stephychan0]

What does one say to an author that is original?I just thought it would be so great to talk to one of my favorite authors but then I find I don't know what to talk about. That is probably the reason I haven't ever wrote to one...

I must say your books completely changed the direction my life went. It's a big part of my life now. I'm not in so deep that is consumes me but it is a subject I often wonder about. "What if" and "If only" are my two major thoughts when it comes to this.

It's the truth! You are a great author.
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~always~

[blackholly]

[quote="Stephychan0"] What does one say to an author that is original?I just thought it would be so great to talk to one of my favorite authors but then I find I don't know what to talk about. That is probably the reason I haven't ever wrote to one...

I must say your books completely changed the direction my life went. It's a big part of my life now. I'm not in so deep that is consumes me but it is a subject I often wonder about. "What if" and "If only" are my two major thoughts when it comes to this.

It's the truth! You are a great author.[/quote]

Wow. I don't know what one says to that! But I think I know what you mean. One of the coolest things about being a professional writer is meeting other professional writers, but it is really hard to know what to say when I am a huge fan of their work. The thing is, as it turns out, once I've gotten past that awkwardness, I have wound up having some really great conversations.

How about you tell me a little about yourself. Are you a writer?

[Stephychan0]

Well I consider myself as a writer in training. I would like to be one but I still need a lot of practice.
I'm not so worried about writing to get published but mainly for my enjoyment. Plus I still have a long way to go.

For some reason it took me the longest time to figure out I could be an author. When I realized it I immediately sat down at our computer and promptly realized I didn't know the first thing about writing. go figure right?

Well I'm 18 a girl obviously(from my name) I live in southern Indiana. My cousin Larissa deserves some credit for being the one to introduce me to Tithe and Tori my best friend for showing me Spiderwick Guide (Tony's art is amazing). There you have it. A small bit of the workings of my mind. Goodness I hope I didn't post to much on here.
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~always~

[Neverwhore]

Apologies for interrupting the train of this thread but I thought of a question the other night and I literally [i]need[/i] to ask it before I completely forget again.

Were there any inspirations behind the idea of Nevermore? If you couldn't tell already, I kinda sorta [b]love[/b] the concept, and it's just always struck me as wow worthy. How did you come up with such a brilliant idea?
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[i]Pixie dust. Like angels make angel dust. International drug cartels grab seraphin and shake 'em. Priests who sweep up churches put that stuff in Ziploc baggies.[/i] - Corny