Timothy Zahn (born September 1, 1951) is an American writer of

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama ...

. He is known best for his prolific collection of '' Star Wars''

books A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physica ...

, chiefly the ''Thrawn'' series, and has published several other series of

sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univ ...

and

novels of his own original creation, in addition to many works of short fiction.

Early life

Zahn grew up in Lombard, Illinois and attended Glenbard East High School in Lombard. He then went on to

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

, before working towards a doctorate in physics at the

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 Unive ...

Career

Zahn's novella ''Cascade Point'' won the 1984 Hugo Award. He is the author of the ''Blackcollar'' trilogy and the '' Cobra'' series (nine novels so far), fourteen ''Star Wars'' expanded universe novels, including thirteen novels featuring Grand Admiral Thrawn: the ''Thrawn'' trilogy, the ''

Hand of Thrawn Grand Admiral Thrawn (full name: Mitth'raw'nuruodo) is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He is notable for appearing as the eponymous character in the ''Thrawn'' trilogy of novels (1991–1993) by Timothy Zahn. Thrawn is an ...

'' duology, '' Outbound Flight'', ''

Choices of One ''Allegiance'' is a ''Star Wars'' novel released in January 2007 by Del Rey. The book was written by Timothy Zahn, and was followed in 2011 with ''Choices of One''. Story The story is set just after '' Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope''. T ...

'', '' Thrawn'', '' Thrawn: Alliances'', '' Thrawn: Treason,'' and the '' Thrawn Ascendancy'' trilogy. Lucasfilm at times used some of the more detailed '' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game'' supplements from West End Games as references, and West End sent boxes of their sourcebooks to Zahn when he started work on a new ''Star Wars'' novel trilogy. At the time, Zahn was writing '' Heir to the Empire'' (1991), the first book in what became known as the ''Thrawn'' trilogy, and West End in turn released sourcebooks from 1992–1994 based Zahn's three novels. The ''Thrawn'' trilogy marked a revival in the fortunes of the ''Star Wars'' franchise, bringing it widespread attention for the first time in years; all three ''Thrawn'' trilogy novels made the ''New York Times'' Best Seller List, and set the stage and tone for most of the franchise's expanded universe content. Zahn also wrote the young adult Dragonback series and the popular ''Conquerors'' trilogy.

Bibliography

References

External links

Timothy Zahn's page
at Tor Books
Timothy Zahn's page
at Open Road Media *
Timothy Zahn interview with RoqooDepot.com for Mara Month
May 7, 2012
Timothy Zahn interview with RoqooDepot.com at Star Wars Celebration VI
August 25, 2012
Timothy Zahn 'Scoundrels' interview with RoqooDepot.com
December 31, 2012
Timothy Zahn
at ComicBookDb.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Zahn, Timothy 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American male novelists American science fiction writers Hugo Award-winning writers 1951 births Living people Michigan State University alumni Grainger College of Engineering alumni American male short story writers American comics writers 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers People from Bandon, Oregon