Catherynne M. Valente is a New York Times best-selling author of fantasy and science fiction novels, short stories, and poetry. She lives on a small island off the coast of Maine with her husband, two dogs, one enormous friendly cat and one less enormous, less friendly one, and six chickens. She has been nominated for or has won every major award in the science fiction/fantasy field, including the Hugo, World Fantasy, Locus James Tiptree Jr., Andrew Norton, and Mythopoeic awards.