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Image courtesy of author's website.
Justine Larbalestier Justine Larbalestier i(A27644 works by)
Born: Established: 1967 Sydney, New South Wales, ;
Gender: Female
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BiographyHistory

Largely raised in Sydney, Justine Larbalestier is the daughter of anthropologists, whose work saw them based at times in Newcastle, Canberra, and small Indigenous settlements in the Northern Territory.

Larbalestier worked as a research fellow in the English Department, University of Sydney, before becoming a full-time writer.

In addition to the works listed on AustLit, she has published The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction (2002), a history of women and feminism in American science fiction, and Daughters of Earth : Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century (2006), an anthology of stories by American and British science fiction writers. For the latter book, Larbalestier won the 2007 William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review. She is also the author of essays on American science-fiction culture in the 1940s and 1950s, and a wide range of critical work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Larbalestier's work has won a wide range of awards (including a Nebula Award, an Aurealis Award, a Davitt Award, and a West Australin Premier's Book award) and has been shortlisted for many more.

Since the early 2000s, she has been based in Sydney and New York. As of 2018, she is increasingly based in New York with occasional returns to Sydney.

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • Additional Works:

    Larbalestier's work on American post-war science fiction includes the following:

    • With Helen Merrick. “The Revolting Housewife: Women and Science Fiction in the 1950s”, The Fifties Fictions issue of ParaDoxa: Studies in World Literary Genres, edited by Josh Lukin and Samuel R. Delany, 2003, pp. 136-156.
    • “The New York Nexus and American Science Fiction in the Postwar Period”, Extrapolation, Vol. 43, No. 3 (2002), pp. 277-287.

    • “Researching the New York Futurians”, Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction, No. 82 (Summer 2001), pp. 45-52.

Personal Awards

2007 finalist Locus Awards Non-fiction for 'Daughters of Earth'.
2007 shortlisted Ditmar Awards Professional Achievement Nominated for editing Daughters of Earth : Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century.
2003 shortlisted Ditmar Awards William Atheling Jr Award For The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction.

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon My Sister Rosa Australia : Allen and Unwin , 2016 9060523 2016 single work novel young adult

''I promise,' said Rosa. 'I won't kill and I won't make anyone else kill.'

'I can't see the loophole. Since the guinea pig there's been nothing. Months now without Rosa killing as much as a mosquito.

'As far as I know.

'Che Taylor has four items on his list: 1. He wants to spar, not just train in the boxing gym. 2. He wants a girlfriend. 3. He wants to go home. 4. He wants to keep Rosa under control.

'Che's little sister Rosa is smart, talented, pretty, and so good at deception that Che's convinced she must be a psychopath. She hasn't hurt anyone yet, but he's certain it's just a matter of time. And when their parents move them to New York City, Che longs to return to Sydney and his three best friends. But his first duty is to his sister Rosa, who is playing increasingly complex and disturbing games. Can he protect Rosa from the world - and the world from Rosa?

'My Sister Rosa will have you on the edge of your seat from the very first page to the last.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

2018 winner Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature Young Adult Fiction
2017 longlisted Davitt Award Best Young Adult Book
2017 shortlisted Inky Awards Gold Inky
2016 shortlisted Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction Horror Division Novel
2016 shortlisted Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Award Best Young Adult
2017 longlisted Indie Awards Young Adult
y separately published work icon Razorhurst Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2014 7542870 2014 single work novel historical fiction fantasy young adult

'The setting: 1932, Razorhurst. Two competing mob bosses - Gloriana Nelson and Mr Davidson - have reached a fragile peace.

'Kelpie knows the dangers of the Sydney streets. Ghosts have kept her alive, steering her to food and safety, but they are also her torment.

'Dymphna is Gloriana Nelson's 'best girl'. She knows the highs and lows of life, but she doesn't know what this day has in store for her.

'When Dymphna meets Kelpie over the corpse of Jimmy Palmer, Dymphna's latest boyfriend, she pronounces herself Kelpie's new protector. But Dymphna's life is in danger too and she needs an ally. And while Jimmy's ghost wants to help, the dead cannot protect the living.

'Gloriana Nelson's kingdom is crumbling and Mr Davidson is determined to have all of Razorhurst - including Dymphna. As loyalties shift and betrayal threatens at every turn, Dymphna and Kelpie are determined to survive what is becoming a day with a high body count.' (Publication summary)

2015 shortlisted Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature Young Adult Fiction
2015 shortlisted Queensland Literary Awards Young Adult Book Award
2015 shortlisted Inky Awards Gold Inky
2015 longlisted Davitt Award Best Young Adult Book
2015 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature
2014 winner Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction Horror Division Best Novel
2016 shortlisted Victorian Premier's Literary Awards Prize for Young Adult Fiction
y separately published work icon Team Human Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2012 Z1871257 2012 single work novel young adult

'Mel and Cathy and Anna have passed vampires on the street, and sat near them in cinemas, but they don't know any. Vampires stick to their own kind, and Mel and her friends hang out with other humans - until a vampire boy in a bizarre sun-proof suit shows up at school and captures Cathy's heart.

'Mel is horrified. Can she convince Cathy that life with a vampire is no life at all? Should she? And then all her assumptions about vampires are turned on their head when she meets Kit, a boy who makes her laugh - a boy with a very unusual family history.

'Will Mel's staunch anti-vampire stance jeopardise her closest friendships? And where does Kit fit in? In the end, who will choose...Team Human?' (From the publisher's website.)

2013 finalist Locus Awards Fantasy Novel
Last amended 5 May 2021 08:28:11
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