Farah Jane Mendlesohn (born 27 July 1968) is a British academic historian, writer on speculative fiction, and active member of science fiction fandom. Mendlesohn is best-known for their 2008 book Rhetorics of Fantasy, which classifies fantasy literature into four modes based on how the fantastic enters the story. Their work as editor includes the Cambridge Companions to science fiction and fantasy, collaborations with Edward James. The science fiction volume won a Hugo Award. Mendlesohn is also known for books on the history of fantasy, including Children's Fantasy Literature: An Introduction, co-written with Michael Levy. It was the first work to trace the genre's 500-year history and won the World Fantasy Award. Mendlesohn's academic positions have included a professorship at Anglia Ruskin University. They have served as editor and chair of the science fiction journal Foundation, and as the president of the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts. In 2015, Mendlesohn received the SFRA Clareson award for distinguished service to the science fiction field. Scholarly career Farah Jane Mendlesohn was born on 27 July 1968 in Manchester, England. Mendlesohn received a D. Phil. in history from the University of York in 1997. Mendlesohn's academic positions include a stint as reader in science fiction and fantasy literature in the media department at Middlesex University, and as professor and head of department in the department of English, communication, film and media at Anglia Ruskin University from 2012 to 2017. Mendlesohn joined Staffordshire University in November 2016 as professor and assistant dean in law, policing, forensics & sociology, and is now an associate fellow of the Anglia Ruskin Centre for Science Fiction and Fantasy. Mendlesohn writes on the history of American religions and British and American science fiction and fantasy. Mendlesohn was the editor of Foundation - The International Review of Science Fiction from 2002 to 2007, and served as its chair from 2004. They then served as president of the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts from 2008 to 2010. Mendlesohn used to be reviews editor of Quaker Studies. Mendlesohn's best known work is the 2008 non-fiction book Rhetorics of Fantasy. It proposes a classification of the fantasy genre using the manner in which the fantastic interacts with the real world. The four modes, or "rhetorics", Mendlesohn proposes are: , where the protagonists travel from our world to a fantastical one; , where only the fantastical world exists; ,