Richard Powers (born June 18, 1957) is an American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire ...

whose works explore the effects of modern science and technology. His novel '' The Echo Maker'' won the 2006

National Book Award for Fiction The National Book Award for Fiction is one of five annual National Book Awards, which recognize outstanding literary work by United States citizens. Since 1987 the awards have been administered and presented by the National Book Foundation, but ...

."National Book Awards – 2006"

National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...

. Retrieved 2012-03-27.
(With linked information including essay by

Harold Augenbraum Harold Augenbraum (born March 31, 1953) is an American writer, editor, and translator. He is the former Executive Director of the National Book Foundation, and former member of the Board of Trustees of the Asian American Writers Workshop, and ...

from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.) He has also won many other awards over the course of his career, including a MacArthur Fellowship. As of 2021, Powers has published thirteen novels and has taught at the University of Illinois and Stanford University. He won the 2019

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It recognizes distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life, published durin ...

for ''

The Overstory ''The Overstory'' is a novel by Richard Powers published in 2018 by W. W. Norton & Company. It is Powers' twelfth novel. The book is about nine Americans whose unique life experiences with trees bring them together to address the destruction o ...

''.

Life and work

Early life

One of five children, Powers was born in Evanston, Illinois. His family later moved a few miles west to Lincolnwood, where his father was a local school principal. When Powers was 11, they moved to

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, where his father had accepted a position at

International School Bangkok The International School Bangkok (ISB; , ) is a private PK-12 American-style school in the Pak Kret District of Nonthaburi Province, Thailand in the Bangkok Metropolitan Area. It is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges ...

, which Powers attended through his freshman year, ending in 1972. During that time outside the U.S., he developed skills in vocal music and proficiency in cello, guitar, saxophone, and clarinet. He also became an avid reader, enjoying nonfiction primarily and classics such as the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Ody ...

'' and the ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Iliad'', ...

''. The family returned to the U.S. when Powers was 16. Following graduation in 1975 from DeKalb High School in DeKalb, Illinois, he enrolled at the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Un ...

(UIUC) with a

major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...

, which he switched to

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

during his first semester. He earned a BA in 1978 and an MA in Literature in 1980. He decided not to pursue a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...

partly because of his aversion to strict specialization, which had been one reason for his early transfer from physics to English, and partially because he had observed in graduate students and their professors a lack of pleasure in reading and writing (as portrayed in ''Galatea 2.2'').

Professorships and awards

In 2010 and 2013, Powers was a Stein Visiting Writer at Stanford University, during which time he partly assisted in the lab of biochemist Aaron Straight. Powers was named a

MacArthur Fellow The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

in 1989. He received a Lannan Literary Award in 1999. Powers was appointed the Swanlund Professor of English at

UIUC The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...

in 1996, where he is currently an emeritus professor. On August 22, 2013, Stanford University announced that Powers had been named the Phil and Penny Knight Professor of Creative Writing in the Department of English.

Novels

Powers learned

computer programming Computer programming is the process of performing a particular computation (or more generally, accomplishing a specific computing result), usually by designing and building an executable computer program. Programming involves tasks such as anal ...

at Illinois as a user of

PLATO Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

and moved to Boston to work as a programmer. One Saturday in 1980, Powers saw the 1914 photograph "Young Farmers" by

August Sander August Sander (17 November 1876 – 20 April 1964) was a German portrait and documentary photographer. His first book ''Face of our Time'' (German: ''Antlitz der Zeit'') was published in 1929. Sander has been described as "the most important Ger ...

at the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

and was so inspired that he quit his job two days later to write a novel about the people in the photograph. Powers spent the next two years writing the book, '' Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance'', which was published by William Morrow in 1985. It comprises three alternating threads: a novella featuring the three young men in the photo during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, a technology magazine editor who is obsessed with the photo, and the author's critical and historical musings about the mechanics of photography and the life of

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that ...

. It was a

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Prisoner's Dilemma The Prisoner's Dilemma is an example of a game analyzed in game theory. It is also a thought experiment that challenges two completely rational agents to a dilemma: cooperate with their partner for mutual reward, or betray their partner ("def ...

'' about

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on Octobe ...

and nuclear warfare. He followed with ''

The Gold Bug Variations ''The Gold Bug Variations'' is a novel by American writer Richard Powers, first released in 1991. Plot introduction The novel intertwines the discovery of the chemical structure of DNA with the musicality of Johann Sebastian Bach's harpsichor ...

'' about genetics, music, and computer science. It was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. In 1993, Powers wrote '' Operation Wandering Soul'' about an agonized young pediatrician. It was a finalist for the

National Book Award The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. The Nat ...

."National Book Awards – 1993"
National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-27. In 1995, Powers published the Pygmalion story ''

Galatea 2.2 ''Galatea 2.2'' is a 1995 pseudo-autobiographical novel by American writer Richard Powers and a contemporary reworking of the Pygmalion myth. The book's narrator shares the same name as Powers, with the book referencing events and books in the ...

'' about an

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech ...

experiment gone awry. It was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. In 1998, Powers wrote ''

Gain Gain or GAIN may refer to: Science and technology * Gain (electronics), an electronics and signal processing term * Antenna gain * Gain (laser), the amplification involved in laser emission * Gain (projection screens) * Information gain in de ...

'' about a 150-year-old chemical company and a woman who lives near one of its plants and succumbs to

ovarian cancer Ovarian cancer is a cancerous tumor of an ovary. It may originate from the ovary itself or more commonly from communicating nearby structures such as fallopian tubes or the inner lining of the abdomen. The ovary is made up of three different ...

. It won the

James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Best Historical Fiction The Society of American Historians Prize for Historical Fiction, formerly known as the James Fenimore Cooper Prize, is a biennial award given for the best Historical American fiction by the Society of American Historians. It is awarded in the odd ...

in 1999. 2000's '' Plowing the Dark'' tells of a

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

research team building a groundbreaking

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), edu ...

while an American teacher is held hostage in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. It received Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award Prize from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Powers wrote '' The Time of Our Singing'' in 2003. It is about the musician children of an interracial couple who met at

Marian Anderson Marian Anderson (February 27, 1897April 8, 1993) was an American contralto. She performed a wide range of music, from opera to spirituals. Anderson performed with renowned orchestras in major concert and recital venues throughout the United ...

's famed 1939 concert on the

Lincoln Memorial The Lincoln Memorial is a U.S. national memorial built to honor the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is on the western end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., across from the Washington Monument, and is in ...

steps. Powers's ninth novel, 2006's '' The Echo Maker'', is about a Nebraska man who suffers head trauma in a truck accident and believes his caregiver sister is an imposter. It won a National Book Award and was a

finalist."Fiction"
''Past winners & finalists by category''. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved 2012-03-27. Powers's tenth novel, 2009's '' Generosity: An Enhancement'', has writing professor Russell Stone encountering his former student, Thassa, an Algerian woman whose constant happiness is exploited by journalists and scientists. In 2014, Powers wrote '' Orfeo'' about Peter Els, a retired music composition instructor and avant-garde composer who is mistaken for a bio-terrorist after being discovered with a makeshift genetics lab in his house. ''

'', published in April 2018, is about nine Americans whose unique life experiences with trees bring them together to address the destruction of forests. It won the 2019

, was shortlisted for the

Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

and the $75,000 2019 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, and was runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. '' Bewilderment'', published in September 2021, was shortlisted for the 2021

and longlisted for the National Book Award and

Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction __NOTOC__ The Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction were established in 2012 to recognize the best fiction and nonfiction books for adult readers published in the U.S. in the previous year. They are named in honor of ni ...

. It is described as "an astrobiologist thinks of a creative way to help his rare and troubled son in Richard Powers’ deeply moving and brilliantly original novel."

Bibliography

Novels

* 1985 '' Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance'', HarperCollins * 1988 ''

Prisoner's Dilemma The Prisoner's Dilemma is an example of a game analyzed in game theory. It is also a thought experiment that challenges two completely rational agents to a dilemma: cooperate with their partner for mutual reward, or betray their partner ("def ...

'', McGraw Hill * 1991 ''

'', William Morrow * 1993 '' Operation Wandering Soul'', HarperCollins * 1995 ''

'', Farrar Straus & Giroux * 1998 ''

'', Farrar Straus & Giroux * 2000 '' Plowing the Dark'', Farrar, Straus & Giroux * 2003 '' The Time of Our Singing'', Farrar, Straus & Giroux * 2006 '' The Echo Maker'', Farrar, Straus & Giroux * 2009 '' Generosity: An Enhancement'', Farrar, Straus & Giroux * 2014 '' Orfeo'', W. W. Norton & Company * 2018 ''

'', W. W. Norton & Company * 2021 '' Bewilderment'', W. W. Norton & Company

Short fiction

* * * * * * * * *

Essays

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Awards and recognition

* 1985 Rosenthal Award of American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters * 1985 PEN/Hemingway Special Citation * 1989 MacArthur Fellowship * 1991 ''Time'' Book of the Year * 1993 Finalist,

* 1996 Swanlund Professorship,

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...

* 1998 ''

Business Week ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'' Best Business Books of 1998 * 1998 Elected Fellow,

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

* 1999 James Fenimore Cooper Prize, American Society of Historians * 1999 Lannan Literary Award * 2000 Vursell Award, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters * 2000 Elected Fellow, Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois * 2001 Corrington Award for Literary Excellence, Centenary College * 2001 Author of the Year, Illinois Association of Teachers of English * 2003 Pushcart Prize * 2003 Dos Passos Prize For Literature, Longwood University * 2003 W. H. Smith Literary Award (Great Britain) * 2004 Ambassador Book Award * 2006 National Book Award for Fiction * ''New York Times'' Notable Book, 2003, 2000, 1998, 1995, 1991 * Best Books of 2003: ''Chicago Tribune'', ''Christian Science Monitor'', ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', ''Newsday'', ''London Evening Standard'', ''Time Out'' (London), ''San Jose Mercury News'' * Finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award, 2003, 1995, 1991, 1985 * 2006 Finalist, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction * 2010 Elected Member,

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

* 2014

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

(longlist) * 2014

California Book Awards The Commonwealth Club of California is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization based in Northern California. Founded in 1903, it is the oldest and largest public affairs forum in the United States. Membership is open to everyone. Act ...

Silver Medal Fiction winner for ''Orfeo'' * 2018 Man Booker Prize (shortlist) * 2019

* 2019 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award for ''The Overstory'' * 2020

William Dean Howells Medal The William Dean Howells Medal is awarded by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Established in 1925 and named for William Dean Howells William Dean Howells (; March 1, 1837 – May 11, 1920) was an American realist novelist, literary cr ...

for ''The Overstory'' * 2021 Booker Prize (shortlist) * 2021 Longlist, National Book Award

References

External links

*
Richard Powers, Professor of English
at

Archived official website with extensive bibliography
*
"Surprising Powers: Richard Powers' Scientific Humanism" by Stephen Burt
from ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

''
"The Last Generalist: An Interview with Richard Powers" by Jeffrey Williams
from '' The Minnesota Review''
Richard Powers talks with Alec Michod
in '' The Believer''
Richard Powers Course
at RIT. * * * Review of "The Overstory" in WA-Post

{{DEFAULTSORT:Powers, Richard 1957 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American male novelists Environmental fiction writers Granta people James Fenimore Cooper Prize winners MacArthur Fellows National Book Award winners Novelists from Illinois People from Lincolnwood, Illinois Postmodern writers Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty Writers from Evanston, Illinois 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters