Biography

Shortest Version

Linda D. Addison grew up in Philadelphia and began weaving stories at an early age. She currently lives in Arizona and has published over 360 poems, stories and articles. Ms Addison is the first African-American recipient of the world renowned HWA Bram Stoker Award(R) and has received five awards for collections: “The Place of Broken Things” written with Alessandro Manzetti; “Four Elements” written with Charlee Jacob, Marge Simon and Rain Graves; “How To Recognize A Demon Has Become Your Friend” short stories and poetry; “Being Full of Light, Insubstantial”; “Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes”. In 2018, she received the HWA Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020, Addison was designated SFPA Grand Master of Fantastic Poetry.

“Dark Duet”, collaborative poetry written with Stephen M. Wilson, was a 2012 finalist for the HWA Bram Stoker Award(R). She co-edited “Sycorax’s Daughters” anthology of horror fiction & poetry by African-American women with Kinitra Brooks and Susana Morris, which was a HWA Bram Stoker finalist in the Anthology category.

Short Version

Linda D. Addison grew up in Philadelphia and received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Carnegie-Mellon University. She is the author of five collections: “The Place of Broken Things” written with Alessandro Manzetti; “How To Recognize A Demon Has Become Your Friend”, “Being Full of Light, Insubstantial”, “Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes” and “Animated Objects” and has published over 360 poems, stories and articles. In 2018, she received the HWA Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020, she was designated SFPA Grand Master of Fantastic Poetry.

Her work has also appeared in numerous publications, including Essence magazine, Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine, Genesis: An Anthology of Black Science Fiction and anthologies, Scary Out There (Simon Schuster), The Beauty of Death (Independent Legions Publishing) and Into Painfreak (Necro Publications). She co-edited Sycorax’s Daughters, an anthology of horror fiction & poetry by African-American women (publisher Cedar Grove Publishing, 2017) with Kinitra Brooks and Susana Morris, which was a HWA Bram Stoker finalist in the Anthology category.

In 2001, Addison was the first African-American to win the HWA's Bram Stoker Award(R) for superior achievement in poetry for “Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes” (Space & Time Books). She has received four additional awards for collections: The Place of Broken Things written with Alessandro Manzetti (2019 Crystal Lake Publishing); The Four Elements written with Marge Simon, Rain Graves and Charlee Jacob (2013 Bad Moon Books); How To Recognize A Demon Has Become Your Friend short stories and poetry collection (2011 Necon E-Books); and Being Full of Light, Insubstantial (2007 Space & Time Books).

Dark Duet (Necon E-Books), a collaborative book of poetry written with Stephen M. Wilson was a 2012 HWA Bram Stoker finalist. Other prominent recipients of this distinguished award include authors, Alice Sebold (Lovely Bones) and J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter Series).

She is the only author with fiction in three landmark anthologies that celebrate African-Americans speculative writers: the award-winning anthology Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction (Warner Aspect), Dark Dreams I and II (Kensington), and Dark Thirst (Pocket Book).

Her work has made frequent appearances over the years on the honorable mention list for Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror and Year’s Best Science-Fiction.

Longer Version

Linda is the second oldest of ten children and grew up in Philadelphia where she graduated from Germantown High School. Her childhood memories include evenings listening to her mother tell stories she created using the children as characters or watching scary movies with her mother at night.

From the first moment she held a book in her hands in kindergarten Ms. Addison knew she wanted to make one of her own. She even now finds cruising a bookstore is as relaxing as drinking a fine glass of wine.

She graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University with a B.S. in Mathematics and currently lives in Arizona.

Linda is a founding member of a writing group, Circles In The Hair (CITH) which started meeting in 1990. She is poetry editor for Space & Time magazine. Her work has made frequent appearances over the years on the honorable mention list for Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror (edited by Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link and Gavin Grant) and Year’s Best Science-Fiction (edited by Gardner Dozois).

In 2001, Addison was the first African-American to win the HWA's Bram Stoker Award(R) for superior achievement in poetry for “Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes”. She has received four additional awards for collections: The Place of Broken Things written with Alessandro Manzetti; The Four Elements written with Marge Simon, Rain Graves and Charlee Jacob; How To Recognize A Demon Has Become Your Friend short stories and poetry collection; and Being Full of Light, Insubstantial.

Dark Duet, collaborative poetry written with Stephen M. Wilson was a 2012 HWA Bram Stoker finalist. Other prominent recipients of this distinguished award include authors, Alice Sebold (Lovely Bones) and J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter Series). In 2018, Addison received the HWA Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020, she was designated SFPA Grand Master of Fantastic Poetry.

Linda D. Addison is the only author with fiction in three landmark anthologies that celebrate African-American speculative writers: the award-winning anthology Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction (Warner Aspect), Dark Dreams I and II (Kensington), and Dark Thirst (Pocket Book).

She co-edited Sycorax’s Daughters, an anthology of horror fiction & poetry by African-American women (publisher Cedar Grove Publishing) with Kinitra Brooks and Susana Morris, which was a HWA Bram Stoker finalist in the Anthology category.

She has over 360 poems and short stories in print. She has published in Essence Magazine, Asimov’s SF Magazine, Eye to the Telescope magazine, Apex Magazine, Spectral Realms and Carpe Noctem. She is a founding member of the writer’s group Circles in the Hair (CITH) and a member of SFWA, HWA and SFPA.