Connie Willis is one of the most
read American writers of speculative fiction. She has won 11 Hugo Awards, 11
Locus Poll Awards and 8 Nebula Awards for best science fiction/fantasy works. Her
literary career started in 1971 when she published a story “The Secret of Santa
Titicaca” in Worlds of Fantasy.
In
1982, she ultimately gave up the job as a teacher and became a full time
writer. Willis wrote her two first novels together with Cynthia Felice (another
American science fiction author) and published her first solo novel – Lincoln’s Dreams – in 1987. Among her
best known texts are: Fire Watch (a
book including 11 short stories), Doomsday
Book (1992), To Say Nothing of the
Dog (1998), Passage (2001) and Blackout/All Clear (2010) – to name a
few of course.
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| Connie Willis with George R. R. Martin |
Willis’ writing is very rich and
diversified. The author tends to, for instance, cross the boundaries of the science
fiction conventions and link it with comedy of manners. Nevertheless, a reader
will find the works that follow the classic genre tradition as well. She is further
known for her intrinsic storytelling, specific sense of humor as well as the
theme of time travel, which is one of her favorites. In many novels, Willis also
touches upon social sciences, psychology and the influence of technology on the
world.
She belongs to the literary movement
called Savage Humanism (identified by
Fiona Kelleghan, an acknowledged SF scholar) – which brings together the science-fiction
writers who use both SF techniques and satire to describe the human world.
by Marta MakoĊ
selected sources:
An Interview (in French)
