“Sibyl, what do you want?”“I want to live,” the Sibyl said, and her voice rang rich and full. “I want to keep on living forever and watching heroes and fools and knights go up and down, into the world and out. I want to keep being myself and mind the work that minds me. Work is not always a hard thing that looms over your years. Sometimes, work is the gift of the world to the wanting.”

American fiction writer, poet, and literary critic

Catherynne M. Valente is an American fiction writer, poet, and literary critic. She is known for speculative fiction, and her work has earned the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, the Andre Norton Award, and the Mythopoeic Award. Her short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine and in anthologies such as Salon Fantastique and Paper Cities, along with several Year's Best volumes. Her criticism has also been published in the International Journal of the Humanities and in other essay collections.