Kim Stanley Robinson

Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American science fiction writer best known for his Mars trilogy. Many of his novels and stories have ecological, cultural, and political themes and feature scientists as heroes. Robinson has won numerous awards, including the Hugo Award for Best Novel, the Nebula Award for Best Novel and the World Fantasy Award. The Atlantic has called Robinson's work "the gold standard of realistic, and highly literary, science-fiction writing."<ref name=Beauchamp /> According to an article in The New Yorker, Robinson is "generally acknowledged as one of the greatest living science-fiction writers."<ref name="Kreider-2013" />

Early life and education

Robinson was born in Waukegan, Illinois. He moved to Southern California as a child.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In 1974, he earned a B.A. in literature from the University of California, San Diego.<ref name="uctv.tv">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1975, he earned an M.A. in English from Boston University. In 1978 Robinson moved to Davis, California, to take a break from his graduate studies at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego). During this time, he worked as a bookseller for Orpheus Books. He also taught freshman composition and other courses at University of California, Davis.<ref name="The Davis Enterprise">Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1982, Robinson earned a PhD in English from UC San Diego.<ref name="uctv.tv"/> His original PhD advisor was literary critic and Marxist scholar Fredric Jameson,<ref name="Bioneers" /> who had pointed Robinson toward works by Philip K. Dick. Jameson described Dick to his student as "the greatest living American writer".<ref name="uctv.tv" /> Jameson moved to UC Santa Cruz and Robinson finished his doctoral thesis under Donald Wesling.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The dissertation was entitled The Novels of Philip K. Dick.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref>

Career

In 2009, Robinson was an instructor at the Clarion Workshop.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2010, he was the guest of honor at the 68th World Science Fiction Convention, held in Melbourne.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In April 2011, Robinson presented at the second annual Rethinking Capitalism conference, held at the University of California, Santa Cruz.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Among other points made, his talk addressed the cyclical nature of capitalism.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Robinson was appointed as a Muir Environmental Fellow in 2011 by John Muir College at UC San Diego.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Major themes

Nature and culture

Sheldon Brown described Robinson's novels as ways to explore how nature and culture continuously reformulate one another; Three Californias Trilogy as California in the future; Washington DC undergoing the impact of climate change in the Science in the Capital series; or Mars as a stand-in for Earth in the Mars trilogy to think about re-engineering on a global scale, both social and natural conditions.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Ecological sustainability

Virtually all of Robinson's novels have an ecological component; sustainability is one of his primary themes (a strong contender for the primary theme would be the nature of a plausible utopia). The Orange County trilogy is about the way in which the technological intersects with the natural, highlighting the importance of keeping the two in balance. In the Mars trilogy, one of the principal divisions among the population of Mars is based on dissenting views on terraforming. Colonists debate whether or not the barren Martian landscape has a similar ecological or spiritual value when compared with a living ecosphere like Earth's. Forty Signs of Rain has an entirely ecological thrust, taking global warming as its principal subject.Template:Citation needed

Economic and social justice

File:Kim stanley robinson-bookfair.jpg

Kim Stanley Robinson speaking at the Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair on the social themes of his work

Robinson's work often explores alternatives to modern capitalism.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In the Mars trilogy, it is argued that capitalism is an outgrowth of feudalism, which could be replaced in the future by a more democratic economic system. Worker ownership and cooperatives figure prominently in Green Mars and Blue Mars as replacements for traditional corporations. The Orange County trilogy explores similar arrangements; Pacific Edge includes the idea of attacking the legal framework behind corporate domination to promote social egalitarianism. Tim Kreider writes in the New Yorker that Robinson may be our greatest political novelist and describes how Robinson uses the Mars trilogy as a template for a credible utopia.<ref name="Kreider-2013" /> His works have made reference to real-world examples of economic organization that have been cited as examples of alternatives to conventional capitalist structures, such as the Mondragon Corporation and the Kerala model.<ref name=markley />

Robinson's writing also reflects an interest in economic models that reject the growth-oriented basis of capitalism: Robert Markley has identified the work of Murray Bookchin as an influence on his thinking, as well as steady-state economics.<ref name=markley />

Robinson's work often portrays characters struggling to preserve and enhance the world around them in an environment characterized by individualism and entrepreneurialism, often facing the political and economic authoritarianism of corporate power acting in this environment. Robinson has been described as anti-capitalist, and his work often portrays a form of frontier capitalism that promotes egalitarian ideals that closely resemble socialist systems, but faced with a capitalism that is maintained by entrenched hegemonic corporations. In particular, his Martian Constitution draws upon social democratic ideals explicitly emphasizing a community-participation element in political and economic life.<ref>Some Worknotes and Commentary on the Constitution by Charlotte Dorsa-Brevia, in The Martians pp. 233–239</ref>

Robinson's works often portray the worlds of tomorrow in a manner similar to the mythologized American Western frontier, showing a sentimental affection for the freedom and wildness of the frontier. This aesthetic includes a preoccupation with competing models of political and economic organization.Template:Citation needed

The environmental, economic, and social themes in Robinson's oeuvre stand in marked contrast to the right-libertarian science fiction prevalent in much of the genre (Robert A. Heinlein, Poul Anderson, Larry Niven, and Jerry Pournelle being prominent examples). He has been described as "one of America's best-selling […] left-wing novelists" and his work has been called "probably the most successful attempt to reach a mass audience with an anti-capitalist utopian vision since Ursula K. Le Guin's 1974 novel, The Dispossessed".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Scientists as heroes

Robinson's work often features scientists as heroes. They are portrayed in a mundane way compared to most work featuring scientists: rather than being adventurers or action heroes, Robinson's scientists become critically important because of research discoveries, networking and collaboration with other scientists, political lobbying, or becoming public figures. Robinson captures the joy of scientists as they work at something they care about.<ref name=":1" /> Robert Markley has argued that Robinson "views science as the model for a utopian politics... Even in Robinson's novels that don't seem to be sci-fi, like Shaman, the inductive method, the collective search for greater knowledge about the world that can be put to use for the good for all, is front and center".<ref name=markley>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Mars trilogy and The Years of Rice and Salt rely heavily on the idea that scientists must take responsibility for ensuring public understanding and responsible use of their discoveries. Robinson's scientists often emerge as the best people to direct public policy on important environmental and technological questions, of which politicians are often ignorant.Template:Citation needed

Climate change and global warming

Template:See Related to Robinson's focus on the environment are his themes of the imminent catastrophe of global warming and the need to limit greenhouse gas emissions in the present day. His 2012 novel 2312 explores the detrimental, long-term effects of climate change, which include food shortages, global instability, mass extinction, and Template:Convert sea level rise that has drowned many major coastal cities.<ref name=Beauchamp/> The novel condemns the people of the period it calls "the Dithering", from 2005 to 2060, for failing to address climate change and thereby causing mass suffering and death in the future.<ref name=Beauchamp/> Robinson and his work accuse global capitalism for the failure to address climate change.<ref name=Beauchamp /> In his 2017 novel New York 2140 Robinson explores the themes of climate change and global warming, setting the novel in the year 2140 when the New York City he imagines is beset by a Template:Convert sea level rise that submerges half of the city.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Climate change is also the focus of his Science in the Capital series<ref name=Beauchamp/> and his 2020 novel The Ministry for the Future.

Awards and honors

Asteroid 72432 Kimrobinson, discovered by astronomer Donald P. Pray in 2001, was named in his honor.<ref name="MPC-object" /> The official Template:MoMP was published by the Minor Planet Center on April 22, 2016 (Template:Small).<ref name="MPC-Circulars-Archive" />

In 2008, Time magazine named Robinson a "Hero of the Environment" for his optimistic focus on the future.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Year	Award	Work honored for
1984	World Fantasy Award for Best Novella	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
1984	Science Fiction Chronicle Readers Poll-novella	"Black Air"<ref name=sfadb />
1985	Locus Award for Best First Novel	The Wild Shore<ref name=sfadb />
1988	Nebula Award for Best Novella	"The Blind Geometer"<ref name=sfadb />
1988	Asimov's Reader Poll Novella	"Mother Goddess of the World"<ref name=sfadb />
1991	John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel	Pacific Edge<ref name=sfadb />
1991	Locus Award for Best Novella	"A Short, Sharp Shock"<ref name=sfadb />
1992	Science Fiction Chronicle Readers Poll Short Fiction	"Vinland the Dream"<ref name=sfadb />
1993	BSFA Award for Best Novel	Red Mars<ref name=sfadb />
1994	Hugo Award for Best Novel	Green Mars<ref name=sfadb />
1994	Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel	Green Mars<ref name=sfadb />
1994	Nebula Award for Best Novel	Red Mars<ref name=sfadb />
1997	Hugo Award for Best Novel	Blue Mars<ref name=sfadb />
1997	Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel	Blue Mars<ref name=sfadb />
1997	Ignotus Award-foreign novel	Red Mars<ref name=sfadb />
1998	Ignotus Award-foreign novel	Green Mars<ref name=sfadb />
1998	Prix Ozone SF novel, foreign	Blue Mars<ref name=sfadb />
1999	Seiun Awards foreign novel	Red Mars<ref name=sfadb />
2000	Locus Awards Best Collection	The Martians<ref name=sfadb />
2003	Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel	The Years of Rice and Salt<ref name=sfadb />
2013	Nebula Award for Best Novel	2312<ref name=sfadb />
2016	Robert A. Heinlein Award	Entire body of works<ref name="Locusmag" />
2018	Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society	Entire body of works<ref name="ClarkeFoundation" />

Personal life

Robinson and his wife have two sons. Robinson has lived in Washington, D.C.; California; and, during some of the 1980s, Switzerland. At times, Robinson was a stay-at-home dad.<ref name="Bioneers">Template:Citation</ref> He later moved to Davis, California, in a cohousing community.<ref name="Bioneers" />

Robinson has described himself as an avid backpacker, with the Sierra Nevada mountains serving as his home range and a big influence on how he sees the world.<ref name="The Davis Enterprise" />

Politically, Robinson identifies as a democratic socialist, and in a February 2019 interview mentioned he is a dues-paying member of the Democratic Socialists of America.<ref>Template:Cite podcast</ref> He has also remarked that libertarianism has never "[made] any sense to me, nor sounds attractive as a principle."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Works

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External links

• Template:Isfdb name
• KimStanleyRobinson.info – unofficial site
• Short descriptions of K.S. Robinson's novels
• All of Kim Stanley Robinson's audio interviews on the podcast The Future And You (in which he describes his expectations of the future)
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• Guardian interview with K.S. Robinson (Wednesday September 14, 2005)
• "Comparative Planetology: an Interview with Kim Stanley Robinson" at BLDGBLOG
• Complete list of sci-fi award wins and nominations by novel
• Interview on the SciFiDimensions Podcast (original webpage down; link to archive.org version of page.)
• "Terraforming Earth", essay by KSR at Slate, December 4, 2012
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• Worldwatch Institute State of the World – Kim Stanley Robinson, 04/16/2013 Washington, DC
• Kim Stanley Robinson discusses Marxism, scientism and bureaucrats with The Dig podcast.