Profile of Amal El-Mohtar

Amal El-Mohtar

A Canadian-born child of the Mediterranean, Amal is currently pursuing a PhD in English at the Cornwall campus of the University of Exeter, sharpening her quills for the hunt. In her hours of rest, she lives in a house on a Hill's Head, where she drinks tea, plays harp, tastes honey, and writes stories about the Arabic alphabet, book-women, singing fish, and Damascene dream-crafters. Not usually all at once. "The Green Book" has been nominated for the Nebula Award.

She writes poetry, too: her first collection of poetry and prose is called The Honey Month, with each piece written to the taste of a different honey. Her poem "Song for an Ancient City" won the 2009 Rhysling Award. She also co-edits Goblin Fruit, an online quarterly dedicated to fantastical poetry, with the lugubrious Jessica P. Wick.

Amal also writes at Voices on the Midnight Air, a blog she keeps somewhat tidy for meandering guests. There she may be found scribbling about poetry, race, feminism, numerous fandoms, and the minutiae of her every-day. She is in her second year of eligibility for the John W. Campbell Award.

Amal El-Mohtar's Campbell-qualifying work:

• "The Singing Fish," forthcoming in The Thackeray T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
• "The Green Book," Apex Magazine, Issue 18, November 2010
  

• "And Their Lips Rang with the Sun," Strange Horizons, October 2009. Also available as a podcast from PodCastle.

Collected Short Fiction and Poetry:

• The Honey Month, Papaveria Press, May 2010. 

Non-Fiction:

• "Whoso Hunts to List," for Shimmer Magazine's Blog
• "Winding Down the House: Towards a Steampunk Without Steam," Tor.com, for their Steampunk Fortnight, October 2010.

Short Fiction:

• "To Follow the Waves," in Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories, January 2011
• "Tarot de Gaga," Weird Tales #356, "Uncanny Beauty" issue, October 2010
• "Connla mac Lia and the Kingship of Eriu," Cabinet des Fées, Issue 8
•  "The Fishbowl," Shimmer: The Clockwork Jungle Book, Issue 11. The link is to an audiofile, but I can provide Campbell voters with the text.
•  "Night of the Girl Goblin," Cabinet des Fées 2
•  "Sparrow and Egg," Shimmer, Issue 6
•  "The Crow's Caw," Shimmer, Issue 4

Poetry:

• "Stairs in Her Hair," forthcoming in Welcome to Bordertown, edited by Ellen Kushner and Holly Black
• "The Winter Tree," Stone Telling, Issue 2
• "Eshet Hayil," Stone Telling, Issue 1
• "Schehirrazade," Sybil's Garage no. 7
• "Courting Song for Selkies," Ideomancer, vol. 9, issue 2, co-written with Jessica P. Wick
• "Orpheus," Cabinet des Fées' Sheherezade's Bequest, April 2010
• "Beggin' Death," Jabberwocky 4, July 2009, co-written with Jessica P. Wick
•  "Apple Jack Tangles the Maidy Lac with a Red, Red Ribbon," Mythic Delirium 20, July 2009, co-written with Jessica P. Wick
•  "The Maiden to the Fox Did Say," Lone Star Stories, April 2009, co-written with Nicole Kornher-Stace
•  "Song for an Ancient City," Mythic Delirium 19, Winter 2008
•  "Damascus Divides the Lovers by Zero, or, the City is Never Finished," Lone Star Stories, December 2008, co-written with Catherynne M. Valente
•  "The Night Sisters," Ideomancer, vol. 8, issue 1
•  "Briar Witches," Aberrant Dreams, April 2008, co-written with Jessica P. Wick
•  "Orpheus," Sybil's Garage no. 5, February 2008
•  "X," Astropoetica, Summer 2007
•  "On the Division of Labour," Mythic Delirium 16, Winter/Spring 2007
•  "The Widow's Tale," Illumen, Spring 2007
•  "Golem's Song," Abyss & Apex, July 2006
•  "The Temptation of Little Red Ridinghood," Chiaroscuro, July 2006
•  "West on the 148," Astropoetica, Spring 2006
•  "Forfeit," Star*Line, July/August 2006
•  "West o'the Moon," Star*Line, Sept/Oct 2005
•  "Loki," Star*Line, July/August 2005

Interviews:

• Creature of the Borderlands, Interstitial Arts Foundation interview, by C.S.E. Cooney
• Outer Alliance Podcast #63, with Julia Rios, JoSelle Vanderhooft, and Mike Allen, discussing Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories.
• A Talk With Amal El-Mohtar, by Patty Templeton of Black Gate
• IslamSciFi Interview, by M. Aurangzeb Ahmad
• And Their Lips Rang with the Sun -- and Honey!, by Shveta Thakrar
• Mythologising the Every-Day, by Matt Kressel of Sybil's Garage.
• Drive-By Interview, by Angela Slatter
• Cabinet des Fées' Sheherezade's Bequest, by Deborah J. Brannon
• Bibliophile Stalker, by Charles A. Tan
• Super-Serkit Clubhouse, by Marshall Payne
• We Have Thumbs Podcast, by Emily Wagner (with Jessica P. Wick)
• The Footnote, by Adam P. Knave (with Jessica P. Wick)
• Cabinet des Fées' Grimmoire, by Erzebet YellowBoy (with Jessica P. Wick)
• Shimmer, Interview the Second
• Shimmer, Interview the First