More About Jenny Blackford
|
My background:
I was born in Sydney, and went to Revesby South, Clemton Park and Wiley Park Primary Schools, and Swansea High School. I moved to Newcastle Girls High School for senior Latin, then studied Classics (Greek and Latin) at the University of Newcastle, NSW.
As far as I can remember back, I was always been fascinated by prehistory and ancient history, archaeology, ancient languages and mythology. I sneaked in a year of German and Sanskrit as well as the standard Honours-style four years of intense Greek and Latin language and literature – and it was quite intense. In November of third year, I had twelve three-hour exams and one two-hour one, as well as any amount of progressive assessment by essay during the year. At the end, I was awarded First Class Honours and a University Medal.
My postgraduate study in ancient religion (the somewhat ambitious thesis was tentatively titled "The Tripartite Godhead in Indo-European Religion") was rendered discouraging by the shrinkage of Classics departments worldwide. I saw an ad in the paper seeking graduates of all disciplines, which was the start of an unexpected career in computer networking, beginning with seven years with IBM as a Systems Engineer in the field of Data Communications. Since then, I have forgotten more Sanskrit than I ever learned, but my favourite poet is still Catullus, and my favourite playwright is of course Euripides.
The photo is of me with with the supervisor of my ill-fated Ph.D, Dr Bernard Curran, both staring fixedly into a corner of the room, with several copies of The Priestess and the Slave on the table in front of us. The photo was taken for an interview in the University of Newcastle Alumni Newsletter. To Bernie's baffled sorrow, I have always found Virgil inexpressibly tedious.
I was one of the five judges of the World Fantasy Awards 2009. The other four judges were the very lovely and distinguished Ellen Klages, Delia Sherman, Chris Roberson and Peter Heck. The instructions on how to enter are on this page of the World Fantasy Awards website, with the names of the current year's judges.
I have reviewed for the Age, Cosmos, G, the New York Review of Science Fiction, and more. Gene Wolfe wrote in a letter of comment to Bruce Gillespie's SF Commentary 80, "Jenny has read my books with far more attention and intelligence than they deserve". At World Fantasy 2010, he introduced me to Nancy Kress as (and I quote) "a wonderful reviewer." Swoon!
During the 1980s, I was a founding member of the Editorial Collective of Australian Science Fiction Review: Second Series, an award-winning fanzine. If you'd like to sample ASFR2 and my criticism there, you could try the two Best Of ASFR collections that the indefatigable Damien Broderick has edited for Borgo Press: Chained to the Alien and Skiffy and Mimesis.
I was also, with Russell Blackford, a principal in the small press publisher Ebony Books. Our publications included Transmitters: An Imaginary Documentary, by Damien Broderick, and Urban Fantasies, edited by David King and Russell Blackford.
Together with Russell, I ran the Academic Tracks for Aussiecon Two and Aussiecon Three. We produced proceedings volumes for each of them: for A2, Contrary Modes: Proceedings of the World Science Fiction Convention, Melbourne, Australia, published by Ebony Books and the University of Newcastle in 1985, and for A3, a guest-edited issue of the UK critical journal Foundation (issue 78, Spring 2000.) If you can't find copies of any of those publications, and need them, contact me here.
|
