SFWRITER.COM > About Rob > Biography
Short Bio
ROBERT J. SAWYER
Robert J. Sawyer called "the dean of Canadian
science fiction" by The Ottawa Citizen and "just about the
best science-fiction writer out there these days" by The
Denver Rocky Mountain News is one of only seven writers
in history to win all three of the science-fiction field's top
honors for best novel of the year:
Rob is also the only writer in history to win the top
SF awards in the United States, China, Japan, France, and Spain. In
addition, he's won an Arthur Ellis Award from the
Crime Writers of Canada as well as ten Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy
Awards ("Auroras").
Maclean's: Canada's Weekly Newsmagazine says, "By any
reckoning, Sawyer is among the most successful Canadian
authors ever," and Barnes and Noble calls him "the leader of SF's
next-generation pack."
Rob's novels are top-ten national mainstream bestsellers in
Canada, appearing on the Globe and Mail and Maclean's
bestsellers' lists, and they've hit #1 on the bestsellers' list
published by Locus, the U.S. trade journal of the SF field.
His seventeen novels include
Frameshift,
Factoring Humanity,
Flashforward,
Calculating God,
and the popular "Neanderthal Parallax" trilogy consisting of
Hominids,
Humans, and
Hybrids.
He's often seen on
TV, including such program as
Rivera Live with Geraldo Rivera,
Canada A.M., and Saturday Night at the Movies, and he's
a frequent science commentator for
Discovery Channel Canada, CBC Newsworld, and
CBC Radio. He has been the subject of an
hour-long Canadian TV documentary ("In the Mind of Robert J. Sawyer"),
profiled for an entire half-hour episode of "Credo," and twice been
"in the hot seat" on Vision TV's "Test of Faith" with Valerie Pringle.
Rob who holds an honorary doctorate
from Laurentian University has taught writing at the University of Toronto,
Ryerson University, Humber College, the National University of Ireland, and
the Banff Centre. He has been Writer-in-Residence at the
Richmond Hill (Ontario) Public Library, the Kitchener (Ontario) Public Library,
the Toronto Public Library's
Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy,
and at the Odyssey Workshop. And he edits
Robert J. Sawyer Books, the science-fiction
imprint of Calgary's Red Deer Press.
Rob has given talks at hundreds of venues including the
Library of Congress
and the National Library of Canada, and been
keynote speaker
at dozens of events in places as diverse as Los Angeles, Boston, Tokyo,
and Barcelona. He was born in Ottawa in 1960, and now lives just west
of Toronto with his wife, poet Carolyn Clink.
For much more about Rob, see his 10,000-word autobiography.
More Good Reading
Rob's Curriculum Vitae
Backgrounder: Science Fiction Awards
Entry on Robert J. Sawyer in Canadian Who's Who
Robert J. Sawyer Novels in the Classroom
Press Release Index
Rob on TV
Rob's Press Kit
Booking Rob as a Keynote Speaker
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