Shawna Lee McCarthy is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 and fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 editor and literary agent. She is married to science fiction artist Wayne Douglas Barlowe.

McCarthy edited Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine

Asimov's Science Fiction

Asimov's Science Fiction is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy and perpetuates the name of author and biochemist Isaac Asimov...

from 1983 until 1985, taking over the helm from Kathleen Moloney and being succeeded by Gardner Dozois

Gardner Dozois

Gardner Raymond Dozois is an American science fiction author and editor. He was editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine from 1984 to 2004...

. During her time at Asimov's, McCarthy edited four anthologies of stories from the magazine (Isaac Asimov's Wonders of the World (1982), Isaac Asimov's Aliens & Outworlders (1983), Isaac Asimov's Space of Her Own (1984) and Isaac Asimov's Fantasy! (1985)), and received the Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor

Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor

The Hugo Awards are given every year by the World Science Fiction Society for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was once officially...

 once (being nominated for it a total of three times).

After leaving Asimov's, McCarthy became an editor for Bantam from 1985 until 1988 and co-edited the first two volumes of that publisher's Full Spectrum anthology series with Lou Aronica

Lou Aronica

Lou Aronica is an American editor and publisher, primarily of science fiction. He co-edited the Full Spectrum anthologies with Shawna McCarthy. As a publisher he began at Bantam Books and formed their Bantam Spectra science fiction and fantasy label...

, et al. Upon leaving Bantam, she began working as a literary agent, first with Scott Meredith

Scott Meredith

Scott Meredith, born Arthur Scott Feldman was a prominent American literary agent, and founder of the Scott Meredith Literary Agency. His clients included famous and successful writers such as Richard S. Prather, Morris West, Norman Mailer, J.G. Ballard, Arthur C. Clarke, P.G. Wodehouse and Philip K...

, then with Scovil Chichak Galen, and now as an independent. In addition, she has been the fiction editor of Realms of Fantasy

Realms of Fantasy

Realms of Fantasy is a professional bimonthly fantasy speculative fiction magazine published by Damnation Books, which specializes in fantasy, nonfiction, and art. The magazine publishes short stories by some of the genre's most popular and most prominent authors...

magazine from its debut in 1994 and will continue in that role following its 2010 sale.

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