Robert Silverberg

Robert Silverberg (born January 15, 1935, in Brooklyn, New York) is one of the most celebrated figures in American science fiction. A graduate of Columbia University, he began publishing fiction in the mid-1950s and became famously prolific during the late 1950s and early 1960s, producing countless stories and novels. After a period of reinvention, he entered his most acclaimed creative phase in the late 1960s and 1970s, earning multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and recognition for bringing literary depth and psychological sophistication to the genre.

His major novels include "Dying Inside" (1972), the poignant story of a telepath losing his powers; "A Time of Changes" (1971), which won the Nebula Award; "Downward to the Earth" (1970); "The World Inside" (1971); and "Nightwings" (1968), winner of the Hugo Award. In 1980 he returned from a brief retirement with "Lord Valentine's Castle," launching his popular Majipoor series set on a vast, exotic alien world. He also edited the influential anthology series "The Science Fiction Hall of Fame."

Silverberg served as president of the Science Fiction Writers of America and was named a Grand Master in 2004, cementing his legacy as a master of speculative fiction.