Editing Graham Nelson

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2018}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Graham Nelson
| image       =
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| caption     = 
| birth_date  = {{birth year and age|1968}}
| birth_place =
| death_date  =
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| education   =
| occupation  = Mathematician, poet, game designer
| spouse      = [[Emily Short]]
| parents     =
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}}
'''Graham A. Nelson''' (born 1968) is a British mathematician, poet, and the creator of the [[Inform|Inform design system]] for creating [[interactive fiction]] (IF) games. He has authored several IF games, including ''[[Curses (computer game)|Curses]]'' (1993) and ''[[Jigsaw (computer game)|Jigsaw]]'' (1995).<ref name="rothstein98">{{cite news
 |url         = https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/06/business/technology-connections-intricacy-text-game-no-object-superfluous-no-formulation.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm
 |title       = TECHNOLOGY: CONNECTIONS; In the intricacy of a text game, no object is superfluous, no formulation too strange.
 |access-date  = 10 March 2021
 |date        = 6 April 1998
 |last        = Rothstein
 |first       = Edward
 |newspaper    = [[New York Times]]
 |archive-url  = https://archive.today/20130104134135/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A06EFDE103AF935A35757C0A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
 |archive-date = 4 January 2013
 |url-status     = live
 |url-access   = limited
}}</ref>

==Education==
In 1994, Nelson received a Ph.D. in mathematics from the [[University of Oxford]] under the supervision of [[Simon Donaldson]].<ref>{{MathGenealogy |id = 36909 }}</ref>

==Writing==
Nelson co-edited ''[[Oxford Poetry]]''{{cn|date=March 2021}} and in 1997 received an [[Eric Gregory Award]] from the [[Society of Authors]] for his poetry.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927193241/http://www.societyofauthors.net/soa/page_id_sub.php4?pid=30&parentid=7&par_nm=Prizes%20for%20fiction%20and%20non-fiction Eric Gregory Trust Fund Awards (winners)]}}, Society of Authors. Accessed 2007-04-19.</ref> {{As of|2004}} he was managing editor of Legenda, the imprint of the [[Modern Humanities Research Association]] ([[Modern Humanities Research Association|MHRA]]).<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20041223060415/http://www.mhra.org.uk/Downloads/LegendaPR.pdf "New Partners for Oxford University's Legenda Imprint"], 2004-10-21. [http://www.mhra.org.uk/index.html Modern Humanities Research Association] {{webarchive|url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20020913080341/http%3A//www.mhra.org.uk/index.html |date=13 September 2002 }}. Accessed 2007-04-19</ref>

==Interactive fiction==
Nelson is the creator of the [[Inform|Inform design system]] for creating [[interactive fiction]] (IF) games. He has also authored several IF games, including ''[[Curses (computer game)|Curses]]'' (1993) and ''[[Jigsaw (computer game)|Jigsaw]]'' (1995), using the experience of writing ''Curses'' in particular to expand the range of verbs that Inform is capable of understanding.

==Personal life==
Nelson is married to IF writer [[Emily Short]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://emshort.blog/2015/09/06/private-games/ | title=Private Games | date=6 September 2015 | publisher=Emily Short's Interactive Storytelling | accessdate=2018-05-14}}</ref>

== Games ==

=== Written ===
* ''[[Curses (computer game)|Curses]]'' (1993, [[Z-machine|Z-code]])
* ''[[Deja Vu (text adventure)|Deja Vu]]'' (1993, Z-code)
* ''[[Balances]]'' (1994, Z-code)
* ''[[Jigsaw (computer game)|Jigsaw]]'' (1995, Z-code)
* ''[[The Meteor, the Stone and a Long Glass of Sherbet]]'' (as "Angela M. Horns", 1996, Z-code), for IF Comp 1996 (1st place). Was a finalist for Best Individual Puzzle, Best Puzzles, Best Writing, and Best Game at the XYZZY Awards 1996
* ''[[The Tempest (computer game)|The Tempest]]'' (1997, Z-code), for IF Comp 1997 (25th place). Winner of Best Use of Medium at the XYZZY Awards 1997.
* ''[[Time and Dwarves]]'' (1998, Inform source code). Demo code for Inform programmers.
* ''Ruins'' (as "Angela M. Horns", 2001)
* ''[[The Reliques of Tolti-Aph]]'' (2006, Z-code)

=== Ported ===
* ''[[Colossal Cave Adventure|Adventure]]''
* ''[[Adventureland (video game)|Adventureland]]''
* ''[[Crobe]]''
* ''[[Fyleet]]''
* ''[[Quest for the Sangraal]]''

== Other works ==
* (1995) "The Craft of the Adventure" (2nd ed)
* (1997) ''Singularities'', with [[Polly Clark]] and [[Tim Kendall]]. Oxford: Hubble Press. {{ISBN|0-9531989-0-1}}. Anthology of poetry
* (2001) ''Inform Designers Manual'' (4th ed), with Gareth Rees. Placet Solutions, {{ISBN|0-9713119-0-0}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130814185816/http://www.gnelson.demon.co.uk/ Homepage of Graham Nelson]
* [http://wurb.com/if/person/43 Graham Nelson's entry in Baf's Guide to IF archive]
* [http://www.gnelson.demon.co.uk/oxpoetry/index.html Nelson's Index to ''Oxford Poetry''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050312114855/http://www.gnelson.demon.co.uk/oxpoetry/index.html |date=12 March 2005 }}
* [http://www.ifwiki.org/index.php/Graham_Nelson IFWiki's page for Graham Nelson]
* [http://www.emshort.com/ifmu/inform.html Graham Nelson's talk on Inform Past, Present and Future, June 2018]
* [https://www.filfre.net/2019/11/new-tricks-for-an-old-z-machine-part-2-hacking-deeper-or-follies-of-graham-nelsons-youth/ Graham Nelson's brief autobiography as of 2019, published by computer entertainment historian Jimmy Maher]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Graham}}
[[Category:1968 births]]
[[Category:Alumni of Selwyn College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:British video game designers]]
[[Category:British video game programmers]]
[[Category:English mathematicians]]
[[Category:Fellows of St Anne's College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Interactive fiction writers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:English male poets]]