Deanna Hoak

I got a wonderfully nice letter from Allen Steele today. He noted that he had accepted China Miéville’s Locus Award for Best Young Adult Novel for Un Lun Dun for him at the Locus Awards this year, and he sent me along a copy of what China asked him to read, since it mentioned me by name:

I am more honoured than I can say. This is a wonderful time for YA fiction, and it has been incredibly exciting to be part of that scene: to receive this is really humbling. My huge thanks to everyone who worked on Un Lun Dun–especially Chris Schluep, Harriet Wilson, Lauren Buckland, Deanna Hoak, Mic Cheetham, and Simon Kavanagh–and to all the authors to whom this book is a homage. I want to dedicate this award to the memory of my mother, Claudia Lightfoot, who gave me books, and would be unspeakably proud today. Thank you all so much again.

It’s rare for copyeditors to get that kind of thanks, and I’m always elated when authors are so happy with my work that they think I deserve it.