Science Fiction Writer
ROBERT J. SAWYER
Hugo and Nebula Winner

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Rob was guest of Honor at EerieCon 3 in Niagara Falls, NY, on April 20 to 22, 2001. The convention chairman, Joe Fillinger, asked Carolyn Clink to write a bio of Rob as a poem. She was the poetry guest of honor that same year.

(with apologies to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

Listen my fen and you shall hear
of Robert J. Sawyer and his career.
On the twenty-ninth of April in '60,
when SF was booming — not risky,
Rob was born, with a slap to his rear.

He was carried, as a babe in arms,
to Toronto's schoolmarms.
There to grow, learn to read and write,
discover SF and James White,
and also to fall for Carolyn's charms.

Got a broadcasting education,
decades later he's dabbling in animation.
He wrote a starshow, freelanced his writing,
then decided it was much more exciting
appearing in an SF publication.

Fast forward to Rob's Golden Fleece,
a fine first novel, quickly released.
Onto dinosaurs — Afsan et al,
then murders using a terminal,
(novel winner at the Nebula feast).

He had big ideas and wanted to fly
in outer space with dolphins nigh,
and so Starplex he wrote —
got many a Hugo vote,
and for Analog, Stan Schmidt did buy.

Illegal Alien was to be
the sequel to Starplex, contractually.
But Ace said okay to Rob's plan,
and first contact between Tosok and man
resulted in murder in the first degree.

Then Tor bought him up, he's Hartwell's boy.
Wrote Frameshift, even though he's a goy,
then more f's, Factoring Humanity
and FlashForward (one word in reality).
Calculating God gave him bestseller joy.

His short-fiction output is lauded but teeny.
Was SFWA president — that sucked the weenie.
Still, he's won 23 awards
and his signings attract hordes.
Check out SFWRITER.COM — he's a web genie.

Now he's happy in his penthouse condo,
log's on the fire, La-Z-Boy's just so.
First Neanderthal book is due this spring,
he's got to write it to get paid — ka-ching!
All in all, it's the status quo.

More Good Reading

Profiles of and interviews with Robert J. Sawyer
All About Rob
Entry on Rob in Canadian Who's Who
Robert J. Sawyer's awards and honors
Press comments about Rob
Robert J. Sawyer Novels in the Classroom
Rob's standard press backgrounder
Rob's author photo
Two color photos of Rob accepting Aurora Awards
Review index

My Very Occasional Newsletter