Robert J. Sawyer
SFWRITER.COM Inc. Mississauga
VCON 41 Author Guest of Honor
Born in Ottawa in 1960, in his youth Robert dreamed of becoming a paleontologist specializing in dinosaurs, but upon discovering only about a dozen people worldwide made a living doing that, he decided to become one of the several hundred people making the big bucks—which is to say surviving—on a science fiction writer’s income.
First he studied for a degree in Bachelor of Applied Arts in Radio and Television—giving him insight into dealing with the media—plus elective courses on psychology—giving him insight into human nature … and probably further insight into dealing with the media.
From 1983 on he was a full-time writer, albeit almost entirely non-fiction, mainly freelance articles in various magazines, but also scripts and narration for five CBC radio documentaries on science fiction topics.
In 1989 he chose to become a full-time science fiction writer, starting with his novel Golden Fleece. To date he has published 23 novels, in the process acquiring a 1996 Nebula Award for The Terminal Experiment, a 2003 Hugo for Hominoids, the 2006 John W. Campbell Award for Mindscan, and multiple Aurora awards including a Lifetime Achievement Award. In fact, according to the genre industry trade magazine Locus, Robert has won more awards than any other science fiction writer on Earth. His works are popular everywhere, garnering awards in myriad countries.