Gwenda Bond

Bond was born on July 12, 1976 in Jackson County, Kentucky.{{cite news |last1=Philpott |first1=Amber |date=July 10, 2019 |title=Lexington author sharing in the success of 'Stranger Things' series with latest book |language=en |work=WKYT |url=https://www.wkyt.com/content/news/Lexington-author-sharing-in-the-success-of-Stranger-Things-with-latest-book-512538262.html |access-date=October 6, 2022 |archive-date=October 2, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221002202604/https://www.wkyt.com/content/news/Lexington-author-sharing-in-the-success-of-Stranger-Things-with-latest-book-512538262.html |url-status=live }} Her parents were both principals.{{cite news |last1=Serrao |first1=Nivea |date=May 13, 2017 |title=Here's Why Gwenda Bond's 'Lois Lane: Triple Threat' Will Make Readers 'Explode' With Excitement |language=en |work=Entertainment Weekly |url=https://ew.com/books/2017/05/13/gwenda-bond-lois-lane-triple-threat-interview/ |access-date=October 6, 2022 |archive-date=September 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220930101731/https://ew.com/books/2017/05/13/gwenda-bond-lois-lane-triple-threat-interview/ |url-status=live }}

Bond majored in journalism at Eastern Kentucky University, whereupon she worked for the state government in public health communications for 17 years, publishing articles and stories in her spare time. She was a spokesperson for the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. While working, she obtained a Masters of Fine Arts degree at Vermont College of Fine Arts, acquired an agent, and shopped around four manuscripts before finally getting a contract in 2012 for Blackwood. She has since published more than a dozen books.{{cite web |author=Celeste Lewis |date=October 1, 2020 |title=Local Luminaries: Lexington Author Gwenda Bond |url=https://smileypete.com/community/local-luminaries/ |publisher=Smiley Pete Publishing |access-date=October 6, 2022 |archive-date=December 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211203223626/https://smileypete.com/community/local-luminaries/ |url-status=live }} She is a co-founder of the Lexington Writer's Room, a nonprofit organization.{{cite web |last1=Lofton |first1=Shelby |title=Historic building home to Lexington Writer's Room heavily damaged by fire |url=https://www.wkyt.com/2022/03/31/historic-building-home-lexington-writers-room-heavily-damaged-by-fire/ |accessdate=2022-10-06 |website=WKYT |archive-date=May 13, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220513075905/https://www.wkyt.com/2022/03/31/historic-building-home-lexington-writers-room-heavily-damaged-by-fire/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |date=September 8, 2022 |title=Lexington Writer's Room celebrates rebuilding with new mural after March fire |url=https://www.lex18.com/news/covering-kentucky/lexington-writers-room-celebrates-rebuilding-with-new-mural-after-march-fire |accessdate=2022-10-06 |website=LEX 18 News – Lexington, KY (WLEX) |archive-date=September 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220908155314/https://www.lex18.com/news/covering-kentucky/lexington-writers-room-celebrates-rebuilding-with-new-mural-after-march-fire |url-status=live }}

Bond began her fiction publishing career with her "Dear Aunt Gwenda" series of fanciful advice columns published from 2003 to 2011 in Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet.{{cite web|url=https://www.isfdb.org/|title=Gwenda Bond|accessdate=October 5, 2022|archive-date=October 5, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221005215026/https://isfdb.org/|url-status=live}} In 2011, she edited the summer issue of the science fiction magazine Subterranean Online, published by Subterranean Press, which was a sixth-place finalist for the Locus Award.{{cite web|url=https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1296988|title=Subterranean Online, Summer 2011|accessdate=October 5, 2022|archive-date=July 24, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220724042131/http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1296988|url-status=live}} Her first published book was the science fiction novel, Blackwood, released in 2012,{{Cite news |last=Hunter |first=Leah |date=June 30, 2022 |title=Love 'Stranger Things'? Try out the series' first official novel, written by Lexington author |work=Lexington Herald Leader |url=https://www.kentucky.com/news/state/kentucky/article262466547.html |access-date=2022-10-05 |archive-date=June 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220615180158/https://www.kentucky.com/news/state/kentucky/article262466547.html |url-status=live }} which was a finalist for the Locus,{{cite web|url=http://www.locusmag.com/Magazine/2013/PollAndSurvey.html|title=Locus Poll and Survey|accessdate=October 5, 2022|archive-date=June 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220623220953/http://www.locusmag.com/Magazine/2013/PollAndSurvey.html|url-status=live}} ultimately placing sixth.{{cite web|url=http://www.sfadb.com/Gwenda_Bond|title=Gwenda Bond|accessdate=October 5, 2022|archive-date=November 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211119171348/https://www.sfadb.com/Gwenda_Bond|url-status=live}} In addition to her original speculative fiction, Bond has been a prominent writer of franchise tie-in novels, including the first novel set in the Stranger Things universe, the New York Times bestseller Suspicious Minds.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2019/02/24/hardcover-fiction/|title=Books, Best Sellers, Hardcover Fiction|date=February 24, 2019|accessdate=October 5, 2022|archive-date=September 29, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220929041610/https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2019/02/24/hardcover-fiction/|url-status=live}} Since 2015, Bond has published three novels in the DC Stories Metaverse starring Lois Lane.

Her nonfiction credits include pieces that have been published in Publishers Weekly, Locus, Salon, the Los Angeles Times. She currently serves as faculty for the Clarion Workshop for speculative fiction writers.{{cite web|url=http://clarion.ucsd.edu/2022-faculty/|title=2022 Faculty|publisher=Clarion Workshop|accessdate=October 5, 2022}} In addition to having five times being nominated for the Locus Award, she has served as a judge for the SLF Fountain Award (2006), the Otherwise Award,(2008), the World Fantasy Award (2020), and the Bradbury Prize (2022).{{cite web|url=https://www.tor.com/2022/04/25/zen-cho-wins-the-bradbury-prize-for-spirits-abroad/|publisher=Tor.com|title=Zen Cho Wins the Bradbury Prize for Spirits Abroad|accessdate=October 5, 2022|archive-date=October 6, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006220843/https://www.tor.com/2022/04/25/zen-cho-wins-the-bradbury-prize-for-spirits-abroad/|url-status=live}} She has been nominated for the Locus Award five times and is a winner of the RWA Veritas Award. She received the 2020 Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award with Kami Garcia and Sam Humphries for co-founding the Creators 4 Comics fundraising initiative for comic shops and independent bookstores during the early days of the COVID pandemic.{{cite web |author=JK Parkin |date=July 7, 2020 |title=2020 Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award winners announced |url=https://smashpages.net/2020/07/22/2020-bob-clampett-humanitarian-award-winners-announced/ |publisher=Smash Pages |access-date=October 7, 2022 |archive-date=January 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220117073228/https://smashpages.net/2020/07/22/2020-bob-clampett-humanitarian-award-winners-announced/ |url-status=live }}

Bond met her ex-husband, writer Christopher Rowe, with whom she has written the middle grade series, the Supernormal Sleuthing Service, in 2001 at a writers conference. The two were married in 2004 and divorced in 2023. She currently lives in Lexington, Kentucky.

• '"Romancing the Recession," Publishers Weekly, RWA Veritas Award Winner, 2010{{cite web|url=https://www.rwa.org/Online/Awards/Past_Veritas_Award_Recipients.aspx|title=Past Veritas Award Recipients|publisher=RWA.org|accessdate=October 7, 2022}}
• Summer 2011, Subterranean Online, Best Magazine Locus Finalist (6th), 2012
• Blackwood, Best New Novel Locus Finalist (6th), 2013
• The Woken Gods, Best Young Adult Book Locus Finalist (8th), 2014
• Girl on a Wire, Best Young Adult Book Locus Finalist (9th), 2015
• Lois Lane, Best Young Adult Book Locus Finalist (8th), 2017{{cite web|url=https://www.tor.com/2017/05/12/announcing-the-2017-locus-award-finalists/|title=Announcing the 2017 Locus Award Finalists|publisher=Tor.com|date=May 12, 2017|accessdate=October 5, 2022|archive-date=October 6, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006220844/https://www.tor.com/2017/05/12/announcing-the-2017-locus-award-finalists/|url-status=live}}
• Creators4Comics Initiative, Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award Winner, with co-founders Kami Garcia and Sam Humphries, 2020{{cite web |author=JK Parkin |date=July 7, 2020 |title=2020 Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award winners announced |url=https://smashpages.net/2020/07/22/2020-bob-clampett-humanitarian-award-winners-announced/ |publisher=Smash Pages |access-date=October 7, 2022 |archive-date=January 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220117073228/https://smashpages.net/2020/07/22/2020-bob-clampett-humanitarian-award-winners-announced/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |author=Leonard Sultana |date=July 25, 2020 |title=EISNER AWARDS – WINNERS AND HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES ANNOUNCED IN ONLINE CEREMONY |url=https://theconventioncollective.com/cci/eisner-awards-winners-and-hall-of-fame-inductees-announced-in-online-ceremony |publisher=Convention Collective |access-date=October 8, 2022 |archive-date=January 19, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119195649/https://theconventioncollective.com/cci/eisner-awards-winners-and-hall-of-fame-inductees-announced-in-online-ceremony |url-status=live }}

• Blackwood (2012){{Cite web |last=Puckett |first=Jeffrey Lee |title=Lexington writer Gwenda Bond is a 'Divergent' fan |url=https://www.courier-journal.com/story/entertainment/movies/2014/03/19/lexington-writer-gwenda-bond-divergent-fan/6621631/ |access-date=2022-10-06 |website=The Courier-Journal |language=en-US}}{{cite magazine|last= Miller|first= Faren|title= Review of "Blackwood"|date= 2012|page= 21|magazine=Locus, No. 619 August 2012}}{{cite magazine|last= Chhabra|first= Maya|title= Review of "Blackwood"|date= 2013|page= None|magazine=Strange Horizons, January 7, 2013}}{{cite magazine|last= Baldry|first= Cherith|title= Review of "Blackwood"|date= 2013|page= 43|magazine=Vector 272 Spring 2013}}{{cite magazine|last= Fletcher|first= Rosie|title= Review of "Blackwood"|date= 2012|page= 134|magazine=SFX, October 2012}}
• Strange Alchemy (2017)

• Girl on a Wire (2014)
• Girl in the Shadows (2016)

• Fallout (2015)
• Double Down (2016)
• Triple Threat (2017)

• Not Your Average Hot Guy (2021){{Cite web |last=Hunter |first=Leah |title=Bernie Sanders mystery is one of the latest books from Lexington authors. Check them all out here |url=https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article262311212.html |url-status=live |access-date=2022-10-06 |website=Lexington Herald Leader |archive-date=October 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006041406/https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article262311212.html }}
• The Date from Hell (2022)

• Suspicious Minds (2019)

• Mr. and Mrs. Witch (2023){{cite web|url=https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250845955/mrmrswitch|title=Mr. & Mrs. Witch|publisher=MacMillan Publishers|accessdate=October 5, 2022}}

• The Lost Legacy (2017)
• The Sphinx's Secret (2019)

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|https://www.gwendabond.com/}}

{{Portal bar|Biography|Science fiction}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bond, Gwenda}}

Category:1976 births

Category:Living people

Category:American fantasy writers

Category:21st-century American novelists

Category:American science fiction writers

Category:Eastern Kentucky University alumni

Category:Vermont College of Fine Arts alumni

Category:American women science fiction and fantasy writers

Category:Writers from Kentucky

Category:DC Comics people

Category:People from Jackson County, Kentucky

Category:American women novelists