Brian Aldiss

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Brian Aldiss was an English writer, artist, and editor who became famous for science fiction. Born on 18 August 1925 in Dereham, Norfolk, England, he wrote many novels and short stories from the 1950s onward. He often published as Brian W. Aldiss or Brian Aldiss and used a few pen names in the mid-1960s.

Aldiss was influenced by science fiction pioneer H. G. Wells and helped shape the British New Wave of the genre. He served as a vice-president of the H. G. Wells Society and co‑president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group with Harry Harrison. He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1999 and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2004. He won two Hugo Awards, one Nebula Award, and one John W. Campbell Memorial Award. His short story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" (1969) inspired the film A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001).

Aldiss was part of the British New Wave movement and edited several important anthologies. He edited Penguin’s popular Penguin Science Fiction series in the early 1960s, and helped publish anthologies such as The Year's Best Science Fiction (with Harry Harrison) from 1968 to 1976. He also created a form of very short fiction called the mini-saga and edited collections of these stories.

His notable works include the novels Non-Stop, Hothouse, and the Helliconia trilogy, along with many short stories. He wrote a travel book about Yugoslavia, Cities and Stones, and, aside from writing, he was also an accomplished artist. He published his first book, The Brightfount Diaries, in 1955, about the life of a bookseller, which helped launch his writing career.

Aldiss married Olive Fortescue in 1948 and had two children, Clive and Caroline, before their divorce in 1965. He married Margaret Christie Manson in 1965, and they had two children, Tim and Charlotte. Margaret died in 1997. Aldiss lived in Oxford and died at his home on 19 August 2017, one day after his 92nd birthday.

Throughout his career, Aldiss received many honors, including election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1990 and an honorary doctorate from the University of Liverpool in 2008. He left a lasting impact on science fiction as a writer, editor, and influential figure in the genre.