If you know me through work, perhaps because you're one of my students, or if you're a member of my family, you'll know me as Margaret. However, if you know me through writing, having met me online or at an SF convention, you probably know me as Helen.
I apologise now for any confusion this may cause.
My full name is Margaret Helen Hall and I used to submit stories as Margaret Hall. That was also the name under which I made my first professional sale to Pony Magazine. In addition, all the rejection slips for the two novels I finished and submitted to publishers were gained as Margaret Hall. However, after a hiatus while I was studying for my degree with the Open University, during which time I didn't have time to work on novels or finish and submit stuff (though even then I was working on a few things in the background), I began to think about my name. Was Margaret a good name to use as an SF and fantasy writer?
I decided that it wasn't. For one thing, in the UK at least, the name Margaret has dated terribly. From being a common name -- there was always at least one other Margaret in my class at school -- it is now almost unknown in women much under 50. Okay, so I am mature, but as an SF writer do I really want potential readers browsing along the shelves in the book shops to see "Margaret" on the spine of a novel and think "mumsy, middle-aged and sensible"? Not really.1
So I decided to adopt a pen-name. The first name was easy. I rather like my middle name, Helen, but had never summoned up the energy to adopt it in ordinary life. Too many people locally know me as Margaret and there would be all the bank accounts and credit card and so on and so forth to change, which never seemed worth it. Besides, I've met many people who use their middle name rather than their first name. A plus point was that Helen (unlike Margaret) hasn't dated. There's a young Helen who lives just a few doors away. There was a Helen in my niece's class at primary school.
The surname was more of a problem. I didn't want to just choose a name out of the blue (or more likely out of the phone book), so I went back a generation and considered my grandparents' surnames. And thus, after some consideration, I settled on my grandmother's maiden name of Kenyon...
It seemed the obvious choice. It's pronounced exactly as it's spelt. It goes nicely with Helen and it even has a personal link to SF. Some of the first fantasy stories I ever read as a child were The Light Princess and The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald. The particular volumes I read had been passed down to me from my maternal grandmother and her sister, my great aunt. The bookplates explain that the books were presented to Alice and Ethel Kenyon as a reward for regular and punctual attendance at Christ Church Harpurhey School, Manchester in 1907.
So I apologise again for any confusion, but that's why if you meet me face to face, I'm Margaret or Helen Hall, depending on how and where you know me, but in print, it's Helen Kenyon (for the moment at least, for these things are always subject to change).
1Actually, having said all this about the name Margaret, I then discovered that there's a fantasy writer in the US called Margaret Ball, but I don't think the name was a) ever so common over there and b) has therefore not dated in the same way it has in Britain. But anyway, with only 1 letter difference, that would be a potential source of confusion and another reason for going with the pen-name. (Back)
