Connie Willis

Connie Willis

Connie Willis at Clarion West, 1998

Connie Willis at Clarion West, 1998
Born Constance Elaine Trimmer
(1945-12-31) December 31, 1945
Denver, Colorado, USA
Occupation Writer
Nationality American
Education B.A., 1967
Alma mater Colorado State College
Period c. 1978–present
Genre Science fiction, social satire, Comedy of manners, Comic science fiction
Subject Time travel; War, especially World War II; Heroism; Courtship; Mores
Literary movement Savage Humanism[1]
Notable works Doomsday Book, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Blackout/All Clear, "The Last of the Winnebagos"
Notable awards Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award, Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Locus Award, and others
Spouse Courtney Willis
Children Cordelia Willis
Website
conniewillis.net

Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis (born December 31, 1945) is an American science fiction/fantasy writer. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards for particular works—more major awards than any other writer[2]—most recently the year's "Best Novel" Hugo and Nebula Awards for Blackout/All Clear (2010).[3] She was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2009[4][5] and the Science Fiction Writers of America named her its 28th SFWA Grand Master in 2011.[6]

Several of her works feature time travel by history students at a faculty of the future University of Oxford—sometimes called the Time Travel series.[7] They are the short story "Fire Watch" (1982, also in several anthologies and the 1985 collection of the same name), the novels Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog (1992 and 1998), as well as the two-part novel Blackout/All Clear (2010).[7] All four won the annual Hugo Award and all but To Say Nothing of the Dog won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards.[3]

Biography

Willis is a 1967 graduate of Colorado State College, now the University of Northern Colorado, where she completed degrees in English and Elementary Education.[8][9] She lives in Greeley, Colorado, with her husband Courtney Willis, a former professor of physics at the University of Northern Colorado. They have one daughter, Cordelia.

Willis's first published story was "The Secret of Santa Titicaca" in Worlds of Fantasy, Winter 1970 (December).[10] At least seven stories followed (1978–81) before her debut novel, Water Witch by Willis and Cynthia Felice, published by Ace Books in 1982.[10] After receiving a National Endowment for the Arts grant that year, she left her teaching job and became a full-time writer.[11]

Scholar Gary K. Wolfe has written, "Willis, the erstwhile stand-up superstar of SF conventions – having her as your MC is like getting Billy Crystal back as host of the Oscars – and the author of some of the field's funniest stories, is a woman of considerably greater complexity and gravity than her personal popularity reflects, and for all her facility at screwball comedy knock-offs and snappy parody, she wants us to know that she's a writer of some gravity as well."[12]

Willis is an Episcopalian.[13]

Writing style

Willis tends to the comedy of manners style of writing. Her protagonists are typically beset by single-minded people pursuing illogical agendas, such as attempting to organize a bell-ringing session in the middle of a deadly epidemic (Doomsday Book), or frustrating efforts to analyze near-death experiences by putting words in the mouths of interviewees (Passage).

Other themes and stylistic devices include:

Willis is acclaimed as a science-fiction writer, with much of her writing exploring the social sciences. She often weaves technology into her stories in order to prompt readers to question what impact it has on the world. For instance, Lincoln's Dreams plumbs not just the psychology of dreams, but also their role as indicators of disease. The story portrays a young man's unrequited love for a young woman who might or might not be experiencing reincarnation or precognition, and whose outlook verges on suicidal. Similarly Bellwether is almost exclusively concerned with human psychology.

Among other themes, Uncharted Territory contemplates the extent to which technology shapes expectations of gender; "technology" here ranges from a land rover and binoculars to Bult's online "tchopping" and the pop-up holograms—even socioexozoology. Remake embraces old movies and the computer graphics revolution, as well as intellectual property, digital copyright issues, and the question of public domain.

Other Willis stories explore the so-called "hard" sciences, following in the classic science fiction tradition. "The Sidon in the Mirror" harks back to the interplanetary and interstellar romanticism of the 1930s and 1940s. "Samaritan" is another take on the theme of Heinlein's "Jerry Was a Man", while "Blued Moon" is similarly reminiscent of Heinlein's "The Year of the Jackpot".

Awards

Hugo Awards

Wins

Additional Nominations

Nebula Awards

Wins

Additional Nominations

Locus Awards

Wins

Additional Nomination

Arthur C. Clarke Awards

Nominations

World Fantasy Awards

Nominations

John W. Campbell Memorial Award

Win

British Science Fiction Association Award

Nomination

Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award

Works

Novels and novellas

Short story collections

Short stories

Other

Essays

See also

References

  1. ↑ Sawyer, Robert J. (April 29, 2008). "The Savage Humanists". Robert J. Sawyer. Retrieved June 16, 2013. Meet the Savage Humanists: the hottest science-fiction writers working today. They use SF's unique powers to comment on the human condition in mordantly funny, satiric stories... In these pages, you'll find the top names in the SF field: including...Connie Willis (The Doomsday Book)...
  2. ↑ Merrick, Helen. "Nebula Awards Interview: Connie Willis". Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Retrieved 2013-04-03.
  3. 1 2 "sfadb : Connie Willis Awards". www.sfadb.com. Retrieved 2015-11-14.
  4. ↑ "EMP|SFM Announces its 2009 Science Fiction Hall of Fame Inductions". empsfm.org. 2009-08-14. Archived from the original on 2009-08-14. Retrieved 2015-11-14.
  5. ↑ Strock, Ian Randal (2009-04-06). "2009's Science Fiction Hall of Fame Inductees". Science Fiction Hall of Fame. http://sfscope.com/. Archived from the original on 2012-07-10. Retrieved 2009-06-06. External link in |publisher= (help)
  6. 1 2 "Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master". Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA). Retrieved 2013-04-03.
  7. 1 2 "Time Travel - Series Bibliography". www.isfdb.org. Retrieved 2013-04-03.
  8. ↑ UNC Writers’ Conference Features Internationally Renowned Sci Fi Author, retrieved 11 October 2015
  9. ↑ "University Archives: RG18 ALUMNI". University of Northern Colorado: University Archives. January 27, 2002. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
  10. 1 2 "Connie Willis - Summary Bibliography". www.isfdb.org. Retrieved 2013-04-03.
  11. ↑ "Connie Willis: The Facts of Death", Locus, January 2003, p. 7.
  12. ↑ Wolfe, Gary K. (March 2001). "Passage". Locus (Oakland, California: Charles N. Brown) 46 (3, issue 482): 21. ISSN 0047-4959. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
  13. ↑ "Where's the Beef? - Not A Blog". grrm.livejournal.com. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  14. ↑ Kathryn Cramer (2006). Hartwell, David G., ed. Year's Best Fantasy 6. Tachyon Publications. ISBN 1-892391-37-6.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "1993 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved May 4, 2009.
  16. 1 2 3 4 "1999 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved May 4, 2009.
  17. ↑ 2011 Hugo and Campbell Awards Winners. Locus. Retrieved August 21, 2011.
  18. 1 2 "1996 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved May 4, 2009.
  19. 1 2 3 "2002 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved May 4, 2009.
  20. ↑ "2010 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved May 23, 2011.
  21. 1 2 3 "2001 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved May 5, 2009.
  22. 1 2 3 "1988 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved May 5, 2009.
  23. ↑ "1992 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved May 5, 2009.
  24. ↑ "1997 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved May 5, 2009.
  25. ↑ "1998 Award Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End. Retrieved May 5, 2009.

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