# Kit Reed

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{{short description|American author}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Infobox writer
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| name             = Kit Reed
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| pseudonym        = Kit Craig
| birth_name       = Lillian Hyde Craig
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1932|06|07}} 
| birth_place      = [San Diego](/source/San_Diego), [California](/source/California), U.S.
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|2017|09|24|1932|06|07}} 
| death_place      = 
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| occupation       = Author
| language         = 
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| education        = [College of Notre Dame of Maryland](/source/Notre_Dame_of_Maryland_University)
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| period           = 
| genre            = Speculative fiction and literary fiction
| subject          = <!-- or: | subjects = -->
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| notable_works    = [Kit Reed bibliography](/source/Kit_Reed_bibliography)
| spouse           = <!-- or: | spouses = -->
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| children         = 
| relatives        = Lillian Hyde and John R. Craig
| awards           = Guggenheim Fellow
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| website          = {{Official website|http://www.kitreed.net/}}
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'''Kit Reed''', also known as '''Lillian Hyde Craig''' or '''Lil'''('''l''')'''ian Craig Reed''' (June 7, 1932&nbsp;– September 24, 2017),<ref name=encyclopedia.com>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/reed-kit-1932-kit-craig-shelley-hyde|title=Reed, Kit 1932– (Kit Craig, Shelley Hyde)|publisher=encyclopedia.com|access-date=September 27, 2017}}</ref><ref name=SF-Site>{{cite web|url=https://www.sfsite.com/news/2017/09/24/obituary-kit-reed/|title=Obituary: Kit Reed|publisher=[SF Site](/source/SF_Site)|access-date=September 26, 2017|archive-date=September 8, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180908182002/https://www.sfsite.com/news/2017/09/24/obituary-kit-reed/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=sf-encyclopedia.com/><ref name=Sandomir>{{cite news|first=Richard|last=Sandomir|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/28/obituaries/kit-reed-dead-author-of-darkly-humorous-fiction.html|title=Kit Reed, Author of Darkly Humorous Fiction, Dies at 85|newspaper=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)|date=September 28, 2017|access-date=October 7, 2017}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|name=spelling|Many sources spell her first name "Lillian",<ref name=SF-Site/><ref name=Reginald>{{cite book|last=Reginald|first=R.|title=Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L25ycEzuXxIC&pg=PA1044|date=September 2010|publisher=Wildside Press LLC|isbn=978-0-941028-77-6|page=1044}}</ref> although some spell it "Lilian".<ref name=sf-encyclopedia.com/>}} was an [American author](/source/American_literature) of both speculative fiction and literary fiction, as well as psychological thrillers under the pseudonym '''Kit Craig'''.

==Biography==
Reed was born Lillian Hyde Craig<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/28/obituaries/kit-reed-dead-author-of-darkly-humorous-fiction.html|title=Kit Reed, Author of Darkly Humorous Fiction, Dies at 85|first=Richard|last=Sandomir|date=September 28, 2017|publisher=|access-date=October 22, 2017|via=www.nytimes.com}}</ref> on June 7, 1932, in [San Diego, California](/source/San_Diego%2C_California).{{refn|group=nb|name=spelling}} She was a daughter of schoolteacher Lillian Hyde and US Naval officer [John R. Craig](/source/John_R._Craig).  She was nicknamed "Kitten" at an early age and later legally changed her name to Kit Reed.<ref name=sf-encyclopedia.com>{{cite web|url=http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/reed_kit|title=Reed, Kit|publisher=[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction](/source/The_Encyclopedia_of_Science_Fiction)|access-date=September 26, 2017}}</ref> Her father would command the submarine [USS ''Grampus'' (SS-207)](/source/USS_Grampus_(SS-207)), which was lost with all hands early in 1943, probably sunk by the Japanese.

By age 12, she had written a series of books about a stand-up bunny rabbit. At the College of Notre Dame of Maryland (now [Notre Dame of Maryland University](/source/Notre_Dame_of_Maryland_University)), [nun](/source/nun)s let her write short stories instead of a research paper for her senior thesis, allowing her to avoid the research she hated."<ref name=Sandomir/>

Reed worked as a journalist for a number of years, including for The [St. Petersburg Times](/source/St._Petersburg_Times) and [The New Haven Register](/source/The_New_Haven_Register). She won awards for a series of articles about juvenile courts in Connecticut<ref name=Sandomir/> and twice was named "New England Newspaperwoman of the Year."<ref name=Merril>Editor comments to 'Automatic Tiger'" by Judith Merril, The Year's Best S-F, 10th Annual Edition, edited by Judith Merril, Dell Books, 1965, page 23.</ref>

Reed served as a professor and resident writer at [Wesleyan University](/source/Wesleyan_University) for decades. She was married to Joseph Reed and had three children including Kate Maruyama, who is also an author.<ref name=Sandomir/> Reed died on September 24, 2017, at age 85, after being diagnosed with an inoperable [brain tumor](/source/brain_tumor).<ref name=SFWA>[http://www.sfwa.org/2017/09/memoriam-kit-reed/ In Memoriam Kit Reed], September 24, 2017. Retrieved September 25, 2017</ref>

==Writing==

Reed's first short story, "The Wait" (1958), was published by [Anthony Boucher](/source/Anthony_Boucher) in ''[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction](/source/The_Magazine_of_Fantasy_%26_Science_Fiction)''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sffworld.com/interview/188p0.html|title=Interview with Kit Reed – SFFWorld|website=www.sffworld.com|access-date=October 22, 2017}}</ref> She is a [Guggenheim Fellow](/source/Guggenheim_Fellowship)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gf.org/fellows/12069-kit-reed|title=Kit Reed|publisher=[John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation](/source/John_Simon_Guggenheim_Memorial_Foundation)|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604003137/http://www.gf.org/fellows/12069-kit-reed|archive-date=June 4, 2011|access-date=September 25, 2017}}</ref> and recipient of a five-year grant literary from the Abraham Woursell Foundation.

''[The New York Times Book Review](/source/The_New_York_Times_Book_Review)'' said about her short fiction in 2006: "Reed has a prose style that's pure dry ice, displayed in dystopian stories that specialize in bitterness and dislocation."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Ferguson|first=Sarah|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/01/books/review/fiction-chronicle.html|title=Fiction Chronicle|magazine=[The New York Times Book Review](/source/The_New_York_Times_Book_Review)|date=January 1, 2006|access-date=September 25, 2017}}</ref> ''[The Wall Street Journal](/source/The_Wall_Street_Journal)'' said:  "The title of Kit Reed's [2013] selection of her own short stories, ''The Story Until Now'' (Wesleyan), reminds us that although she has been writing award-winning fiction for some 50 years, she's still accelerating. The scope of these 35 stories is immense, their variety unmatched."<ref>[https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324128504578344330371139190  Bookshelf], Genre Neutral. Wall Street Journal. April 12, 2013. Retrieved April 15, 2013.</ref>

Her stories appeared in venues ranging from ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' to ''[The Yale Review](/source/The_Yale_Review)'' and ''[The Kenyon Review](/source/The_Kenyon_Review)'', and are widely anthologized. Many of her stories are published as [feminist science fiction](/source/feminist_science_fiction) and she was nominated for the [James Tiptree Jr. Award](/source/James_Tiptree_Jr._Award) three times.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/TiptreeTallies.html|title=Locus Index to SF awards|website=locusmag.com|access-date=October 22, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511214854/http://locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/TiptreeTallies.html|archive-date=May 11, 2008}}</ref>  In 2005 her novel, ''[Thinner Than Thou](/source/Thinner_Than_Thou)'', was given the [Alex Award](/source/Alex_Awards) by the [Young Adult Library Services Association](/source/Young_Adult_Library_Services_Association) (YALSA), a division of the [American Library Association](/source/American_Library_Association) (ALA).

== Bibliography ==
{{Main|Kit Reed bibliography}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=nb}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==

*{{ISFDB name|id=Kit_Reed|name=Kit Reed}}
*[http://www.fantlab.ru/autor1646/ Kit Reed's bibliography]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140423170009/http://upcoming4.me/news/book-news/story-behind-son-of-destruction-by-kit-reed Story Behind Son of Destruction – Online Essay by Kit Reed]
*[Joseph W. and Kit Reed Papers](/source/hdl%3A10079%2Ffa%2Fbeinecke.reedjk). Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Kit}}
Category:1932 births
Category:2017 deaths
Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:20th-century American short story writers
Category:20th-century American women novelists
Category:21st-century American novelists
Category:21st-century American short story writers
Category:21st-century American women novelists
Category:American fantasy writers
Category:American horror writers
Category:American women short story writers
Category:Asimov's Science Fiction people
Category:The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction people
Category:Wesleyan University faculty
Category:American women horror writers
Category:American women science fiction and fantasy writers
Category:Writers from San Diego
Category:Novelists from Connecticut
Category:American women academics

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Kit Reed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kit_Reed) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kit_Reed?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.