Sunand Tryambak Joshi (born June 22, 1958) is an American literary critic whose work has largely focused on weird and fantastic fiction, especially the life and work of H. P. Lovecraft and associated writers.
Career His literary criticism focuses upon the worldviews of authors. His The Weird Tale examines horror and fantasy writing by Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, Lord Dunsany, M. R. James, Ambrose Bierce, and Lovecraft.
Personal life S. T. Joshi was born on June 22, 1958, in Pune, India, to Marathi parents Tryambak M. Joshi and Padmini T. Joshi. When he was four, his family moved to the United States and settled in Indiana. He discovered the work of Lovecraft at age 13 in a public library in Muncie, Indiana. He also read L. Sprague de Camp's biography of Lovecraft, Lovecraft: A Biography, on publication in 1975, and began thereafter to devote himself to Lovecraft. This devotion led him to decline offers from Yale and Harvard so that he could attend Brown University, which is located in Providence, Rhode Island where Lovecraft had lived. He is an atheist.
He lives in Seattle, Washington. Joshi married Leslie Gary Boba on September 1, 2001. They divorced in December 2010.
In August 2014, Joshi opposed the decision to retire and replace Gahan Wilson's bust of Lovecraft as the World Fantasy Award statuette in light of a campaign highlighting Lovecraft's history of racism; Joshi returned his World Fantasy Awards in protest.
Notable publications
Books Lord Dunsany: A Bibliography (1993) (co-writer: Darrell Schweitzer) H. P. Lovecraft: A Life (1996) Sixty Years of Arkham House: A History and Bibliography (Arkham House, 1999) I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H. P. Lovecraft (2010) Unutterable Horror: A History of Supernatural Fiction (2012) Lord Dunsany: A Comprehensive Bibliography (2013)
Edited volumes Miscellaneous Writings by H. P. Lovecraft (Arkham House, 1995). Documents of American Prejudice: An Anthology of Writings on Race from Thomas Jefferson to David Duke (Basic Books, 1999). The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories by H. P. Lovecraft (Penguin Classics No. 1, 1999). Atheism: A Reader (Prometheus Books, 2000). The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories by H. P. Lovecraft (Penguin Classics No. 2, 2001). Searchers After Horror: New Tales of the Weird and Fantastic (Fedogan & Bremer, 2002).Briefly reviewed in the May 2015 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction, pp.107–111 The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories by H. P. Lovecraft (Penguin Classics No. 3, 2005). The Short Fiction of Ambrose Bierce - Comprehensive Edition in 3 Volumes, edited with Lawrence I. Berkove & David E. Schultz (2006). The Ghost in the Corner and Other Stories by Lord Dunsany, edited with Martin Andersson (Hippocampus Press, 2017).
Awards
Literary awards Year Title Award Category Result Ref.1990 The Weird Tale Bram Stoker Award Non-Fiction 1991 World Fantasy Award Special Award – Professional John Dickson Carr: A Critical Study Anthony Awards Critical Work 1996 H. P. Lovecraft: A Life Bram Stoker Award Non-Fiction 1997 British Fantasy Award Small Press Lord Dunsany Mythopoeic Awards Myth and Fantasy Studies 1999 Sixty Years of Arkham House International Horror Guild Award Non-Fiction 2000 Locus Award Non-Fiction 2006 Supernatural Literature of the World World Fantasy Award Special Award – Professional Icons of Horror and the Supernatural International Horror Guild Award Non-Fiction 2007 American Supernatural Tales International Horror Guild Award Anthology Warnings to the Curious International Horror Guild Award Non-Fiction 2010 I Am Providence Black Quill Award Dark Genre Book of Non-Fiction 2011 Black Wings of Cthulhu World Fantasy Award Anthology 2012 Black Wings of Cthulhu 2 Shirley Jackson Award Anthology 2013 Unutterable Horror Vol 1 and 2 World Fantasy Award Special Award – Nonprofessional World Fantasy Award Special Award – Nonprofessional 2014 Lovecraft and a World in Transition Bram Stoker Award Non-Fiction 2015 Black Wings of Cthulhu 4 Shirley Jackson Award Anthology 2016 World Fantasy Award Anthology 2022 Ramsey Campbell: Master of Weird Fiction Locus Recommended Reading Non-Fiction
Honors
References
External links