Kelly Link (born July 19, 1969) is an American editor and writer. Mainly known as an author of short stories, she published her first novel, The Book of Love, in 2024. Many of her stories have been described as slipstream or magical realism, combining science fiction, fantasy, horror, and literary fiction. She has won a Hugo Award, three Nebula Awards, and three World Fantasy Awards. She was one of the recipients of the 2018 MacArthur Fellowship.

Biography Link is a graduate of Columbia University and of the MFA program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In 1995, she attended the Clarion East Writing Workshop.

She and her husband, Gavin Grant, manage Small Beer Press, a publisher based in Northampton, Massachusetts. Small Beer Press has an imprint for intermediate readers called Big Mouth House. Link and Grant co-edit the literary zine Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, published by Small Beer Press. They also co-edited St. Martin's Press's The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror anthology series with Ellen Datlow for five years, ending in 2008. Link was previously the slush reader for Sci Fiction.

In 2019, Link and Grant opened Book Moon, an independent bookstore in Easthampton, Massachusetts.

Link taught at Lenoir–Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina, with the Visiting Writers Series during the 2005-2006 semester. She has taught at a number of schools and workshops including Bard College, Cleveland State University, the Clarion Workshop at Michigan State University, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Clarion West Writers Workshop.

In 2018, she received a MacArthur Fellowship. She was a professor at Smith College, where she was the Elizabeth Drew Professor of English Language and Literature. She received an honorary degree from Smith College in 2023.

In 2024, Random House published Link's first novel, The Book of Love.

Awards

Work Year & Award Category Result Ref."Travels with the Snow Queen"1997 Otherwise Award1999 World Fantasy AwardShort Fiction"The Specialist's Hat"1999 World Fantasy AwardShort Fiction"Shoe and Marriage"2001 World Fantasy AwardShort Fiction"Louise's Ghost"2001 Nebula AwardNoveletteStranger Things Happen2001 Salon.com Book AwardFiction2002 World Fantasy AwardCollection2002 SF Site Readers PollSF/Fantasy Book2002 Locus AwardCollection"Lull"2003 Locus AwardNoveletteSmall Beer Press (with Gavin Grant)2003 World Fantasy Special Award—Non-professional award2004 World Fantasy Special Award—Professional award2005 World Fantasy Special Award—Professional award2023 World Fantasy Special Award—Professional award Retrieved 2026-04-28.The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (17th Annual Collection) (with Ellen Datlow and Gavin Grant)2004 Bram Stoker AwardAnthology2005 Locus AwardAnthology Retrieved 2026-04-28.2005 British Fantasy AwardAnthologySmall Beer Press and Big Mouth House (with Gavin Grant)2009 World Fantasy Special Award—Professional award"The Faery Handbag"2004 BSFA AwardShort Fiction Retrieved 2026-05-20.2005 Locus AwardNovelette Retrieved 2026-04-28.2005 World Fantasy AwardShort Fiction2005 Hugo AwardNovelette Retrieved 2026-04-28.2005 Nebula AwardNovelette Retrieved 2026-04-28.2012 Premio IgnotusForeign Story"Catskin"2004 Locus AwardNovelette"The Hortlak"2004 Locus AwardNovelette2004 World Fantasy AwardNovella Retrieved 2026-04-28.Trampoline2004 Locus AwardAnthology2004 World Fantasy AwardAnthology"Stone Animals"2005 Locus AwardNovelette2005 Theodore Sturgeon AwardShort Science FictionMagic for Beginners2005 BSFA AwardShort Fiction Retrieved 2026-04-28.2006 Young Lions Fiction Award Retrieved 2026-04-28.2006 Locus AwardNovella2006 SF Site Readers PollSF/Fantasy Book2006 World Fantasy AwardNovella2006 Hugo AwardNovella Retrieved 2026-04-28.2005 Nebula AwardNovella2006 Theodore Sturgeon AwardShort Science Fiction2008 Grand prix de l'imaginaireForeign Short Story/Collection of Foreign Short StoriesMagic for Beginners2005 International Horror Guild AwardCollection2005 Bram Stoker AwardFiction Collection Retrieved 2026-04-28.2005 Salon Book Award2006 Locus AwardCollection2006 World Fantasy AwardCollection Retrieved 2026-04-28."Some Zombie Contingency Plans"2005 Bram Stoker AwardLong Fiction2006 Locus AwardShort Story Retrieved 2026-04-28.The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (18th Annual Collection) (with Ellen Datlow and Gavin Grant)2006 Locus AwardAnthology Retrieved 2026-04-28.The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (19th Annual Collection) (with Ellen Datlow and Gavin Grant)2007 Locus AwardAnthology Retrieved 2026-04-28.2007 British Fantasy AwardAnthology Retrieved 2026-05-20.Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet (with Gavin Grant)2007 Hugo AwardSemiprozine Retrieved 2026-04-28.The Best of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet2008 Locus AwardAnthology Retrieved 2026-04-28.The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (20th Annual Collection) (with Ellen Datlow and Gavin Grant)2008 Locus AwardAnthology"Pretty Monsters"2009 Locus AwardNovella Retrieved 2026-04-28.Pretty Monsters2009 Locus AwardCollection2009 World Fantasy AwardCollectionThe Surfer2009 Locus AwardNovellaThe Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (21st Annual Collection) (with Ellen Datlow and Gavin Grant)2009 Locus AwardAnthology Retrieved 2026-04-28.2009 World Fantasy AwardAnthology Retrieved 2026-04-28."Secret Identity"2010 Locus AwardNovelette"The Cinderella Game"2010 Locus AwardShort Story Retrieved 2026-04-28."The Summer People"2011 Shirley Jackson AwardNovelette Retrieved 2026-04-28.2012 Locus AwardNovelette2013 O. Henry AwardJuror Favorite Retrieved 2026-05-20.Steampunk!: An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories (with Gavin Grant)2012 Locus AwardAnthology"Valley of the Girls"2012 Locus AwardShort Story Retrieved 2026-04-28."I Can See Right Through You"2015 Locus AwardNovelette2015 World Fantasy AwardShort FictionMonstrous Affections (with Gavin Grant)2015 Locus AwardAnthology2015 World Fantasy AwardAnthology Retrieved 2026-04-28."The Lady and the Fox"2015 Locus AwardShort Story"The New Boyfriend"2015 Locus AwardNovelette Retrieved 2026-04-28.Get in Trouble2016 Shirley Jackson AwardCollection2016 World Fantasy AwardCollection Retrieved 2026-04-28.2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Retrieved 2026-04-28.2016 Locus AwardCollection Retrieved 2026-04-28.2016 Indies Choice Book AwardsAdult Fiction Retrieved 2026-05-20."The Game of Smash and Recovery"2016 Locus AwardShort Story2016 Theodore Sturgeon AwardShort Science Fiction Retrieved 2026-04-28.2017 World Fantasy Special Award—Professional awardContributions to the Genre Retrieved 2026-04-28."The Girl Who Did Not Know Fear"2020 Locus AwardShort Story Retrieved 2026-04-28."Skinder's Veil"2022 Locus AwardNovelette Retrieved 2026-04-28.White Cat, Black Dog 2023 Kirkus Prize Fiction Retrieved 2026-04-28. 2024 BookTube Prize Fiction 2024 World Fantasy Award Collection 2024 Locus Award Collection 2024 Chautauqua Prize Retrieved 2026-04-28. 2024 Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award "Prince Hat Underground"2024 World Fantasy AwardNovella Retrieved 2026-04-28.2024 Locus AwardNovelette Retrieved 2026-04-28.The Book of Love2025 Compton Crook AwardNovel2024 Nebula Award Retrieved 2026-04-28.2024 Los Angeles Times Book PrizeScience Fiction, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction Retrieved 2026-04-28. Retrieved 2026-04-29.

Bibliography

Books

Selected stories

"The Game of Smash and Recovery" "The Summer People" "Pretty Monsters" "Magic for Beginners" "The Faery Handbag" "Stone Animals" "Louise's Ghost" "The Specialist's Hat" "Travels with the Snow Queen"

As editor Trampoline (Small Beer Press, 2003) The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror, Volumes 17 - 21 (with Ellen Datlow and Gavin J. Grant, St. Martin's Griffin, 2004 - 2008) Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories (with Gavin J. Grant, Candlewick Press, 2011) Monstrous Affections: An Anthology of Beastly Tales (with Gavin J. Grant, Candlewick Press, 2014) The Best of Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet (with Gavin J. Grant, Del Rey Books, 2007)

References

External links

Official website Small Beer Press