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Paul Park

American writer

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 26, 2026
Entity authorityQ3371960 ↗
Source-derived summary

Paul Claiborne Park (born October 1, 1954, in North Adams, Massachusetts) is an American science fiction and fantasy author. He taught literature and writing in the Williams College English Department and the Graduate Program in Art History, retiring as a senior lecturer in 2022. He also taught at the Clarion West writing workshop and the Clarion Workshop and was an instructor at Clarion West in 2011.

Career

Park appeared on the American science fiction scene in 1987 and quickly established himself as a writer of polished, if often grim, literary science fiction. His first work was the Starbridge Chronicles trilogy, set on a world with generations-long seasons much like Brian Aldiss' Helliconia trilogy. His critically acclaimed novels have since dealt with colonialism on alien worlds (Coelestis), Biblical (Three Marys) and Theosophical (The Gospel of Corax) legends, a parallel world where magic works (A Princess of Roumania and its sequels, The Tourmaline, The White Tyger and The Hidden World), and other topics. He has published short stories in Omni Magazine, Interzone and other magazines, along with anthology series including Postscripts and Exotic Gothic. In 2010 his short story "The Persistence of Memory, or This Space for Sale" was nominated for a World Fantasy Award; and his novella "Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance" was nominated for a 2010 Nebula Award.

Works

Novels

The Starbridge Chronicles

Soldiers of Paradise. New York: Arbor House, 1987.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Paul Park” as american writer. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1954, 2022, 2011, 1987—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1954-10-01. The account is most persuasive where Paul, Park and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american writer. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

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 Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3371960. VIAF identifies the subject as 38257979. The Library of Congress control number is n82059259. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1954, 2022, 2011 and 1987.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Paul Park”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Paul Park primary sources, Paul Park archive and Paul research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Paul Park”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Paul Park” 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.