Norman Spinrad
American science fiction writer and critic (born 1940)
Norman Richard Spinrad (born September 15, 1940) is an American science fiction author, essayist, and critic. His fiction has won the Prix Apollo and been nominated for numerous awards, including the Hugo Award and multiple Nebula Awards.
Personal life
Born in New York City, Spinrad is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science. In 1957 he entered City College of New York and graduated in 1961 with a Bachelor of Science degree as a pre-law major. He has lived in San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and New York City. He married fellow novelist N. Lee Wood in 1990; they divorced in 2005. Spinrad served as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) from 1980 to 1982 and again from 2001 to 2002. He has also worked as a phone-in radio show host, a vocal artist, a literary agent, and President of World SF.
In an interview with Locus magazine in 1999, Spinrad described himself as an "anarchist" and a "syndicalist".
Style
Some critics have noted utopian themes in Spinrad's works. In a 1999 interview, he talked about his hopes for the role of science fiction in society:
How much science fiction is being published now that's set in worlds that are better than ours?
The public source identifies “Norman Spinrad” as american science fiction writer and critic (born 1940). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Norman, Spinrad and American.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q455951. VIAF identifies the subject as 54154517. The Library of Congress control number is n79122053. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1940, 1957, 1961 and 1990.
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This entry incorporates text from “Norman Spinrad” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.