Richard Powers

Richard Powers (born June 18, 1957) is a novelist whose works explore the effects of modern science and technology on human lives, but without "gee-whiz" or Luddite overtones.

Related Topics:
June 18 - 1957 - Novel - Luddite

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Born in Evanston, Illinois, and interested in multiple sciences as a teenager, Powers enrolled as a physics major at the University of Illinois. He was soon seduced by literature, however, receiving his M.A. in that subject in 1979. After graduation, he worked in Boston as a computer programmer, until an encounter with a photograph at the Museum of Fine Arts haunted him so much that he quit his job and spent the next two years writing his first novel, Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance, which was published in 1985.

Related Topics:
Evanston - Illinois - Physics - University of Illinois - Literature - M.A. - 1979 - Boston - Computer programmer - Photograph - Museum of Fine Arts - Novel - Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance - 1985

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Powers then moved to the Netherlands, where he wrote Prisoner's Dilemma, a work that juxtaposes Disney and nuclear warfare, and then his best-known work to date, The Gold Bug Variations, a story that ties together genetics, music, and computer science.

Related Topics:
Netherlands - Prisoner's Dilemma - Disney - Nuclear warfare - The Gold Bug Variations - Genetics - Music - Computer science

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Operation Wandering Soul, about a young doctor dealing with the ugly realities of a pediatrics ward, was mostly written during a year's stay at Cambridge University, and completed when Powers returned to Illinois in 1992 to take up a post as writer-in-residence.

Related Topics:
Operation Wandering Soul - Pediatrics - Cambridge University - 1992 - Writer-in-residence

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Galatea 2.2 (1995) is a beautiful but tragic Pygmalion story, about an AI experiment gone awry.

Related Topics:
Galatea 2.2 - 1995 - Pygmalion - AI

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gain (1998) is a withering look at the proud history of a 150-year-old chemical company, interwoven with a story of a woman living near one of its plants succumbing to ovarian cancer.

Related Topics:
Gain - 1998 - Ovarian cancer

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Plowing the Dark (2000) is another parallel story, this time of a Seattle research team building a groundbreaking virtual reality, while at the same time an American teacher is held hostage in Beirut, with a stunning outcome.

Related Topics:
Plowing the Dark - 2000 - Seattle - Virtual reality - Beirut

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Powers' latest novel is The Time of Our Singing, published in January 2003.

Related Topics:
The Time of Our Singing - 2003

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He was a MacArthur Fellow in 1989 and received a Lannan Literary Award in 1999. He teaches in the Creative Writing M.F.A. program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Related Topics:
MacArthur Fellow - 1989 - Lannan Literary Award - 1999 - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~