Midori Snyder is an American writer of fantasy, mythic fiction, and nonfiction on myth and folklore. She has published eight novels for children and adults, winning the Mythopoeic Award for The Innamorati. Her work has been translated into French, Dutch, Italian and Turkish.
Biography
Raised in the United States and Africa, Snyder is the daughter of the French poet and professor of African Languages and Literature Emile Snyder, and Tibetan scholar Jeanette Snyder. She is also the granddaughter of Santa Fe artist Pierre Ménager. She studied African Languages and Literature at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, specializing in African oral narrative traditions. She moved to Milwaukee and later resumed her studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, subsequently receiving an M.A. in English Literature and Literary Theory. She then spent some time teaching at Marquette University High School before moving to Arizona.
Career
Snyder's first novel, Soulstring, was a fairytale fantasy loosely inspired by the Scottish legend of Tam Lin. This was followed by an imaginary world trilogy: New Moon, Sadar's Keep, and Beldan's Fire. The Flight of Michael McBride was a work of mythic fiction set in the old American West, drawing upon Irish-American, Mexican, and indigenous folklore. Hatchling was a children's book set in the world of Dinotopia. Snyder's award-winning novel The Innamorati was inspired by Italian and early Roman legends and the theater of the Commedia dell'Arte. Hannah's Garden is a contemporary fantasy for young adult readers about fairies, folk music, and family dynamics, set in rural Wisconsin. With Jane Yolen, Snyder co-authored the novelExcept the Queen, a contemporary urban fantasy featuring two fey who are banished to the World as elderly women, where they find themselves embroiled in a much larger struggle for power. Snyder's short fiction and poetry has been published in a number of anthologies including The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, The Armless Maiden, The Fair Folk, The Green Man, The Coyote Road, Black Thorn White Rose, Swan Sister, and The Borderland Series. Her essays have appeared in Realms of Fantasy and other magazines, and in Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales--Expanded Edition. Snyder was the co-director of The Endicott Studio, a nonprofit arts and literature organization founded in 1987, and co-editor of The Journal of Mythic Arts, founded in 1997. She served as the 2007 jury chair for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. Snyder lives in Tucson, Arizona.
