BIOGRAPHY

William Ford Gibson [1948-]

William Gibson was born on March 17th, 1948, in Conway, South Carolina. His parents were William Ford Gibson and Otey Williams.

At the age of 19 (1967) Gibson dropped out of high school and left the United States for Canada, primarily to escape the draft. There he joined the hippie scene, and later attended the University of British Columbia, receiving his B.A. in 1977. Gibson eventually married one Deborah Thompson, a language instructor, and since has had two children.

Gibson was the first author to sweep the science fiction awards, winning the Philip K. Dick Award, the Hugo, and the Nebula for his first novel Neuromancer. He has published storied in Omni and Rolling Stone, has written screen plays for Alien3 and his own novels (is currently working on an adaption of Count Zero/Burning Chrome/New Rose Hotel --rumors abound) and is probably one of the most well-known and well-liked cyberpunk authors in the genre.

William Gibson was born in Conway, South Carolina, spent his childhood in a small town in southwestern Virginia, attended school in southern Arizona, and left the United States for Canada when he was nineteen. He lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, with his wife and their two children. His first novel, Neuromancer, won the Hugo Award, the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award, and the Nebula Award in 1984. Gibson is credited with having coined the term "cyberspace," and with having envisioned both the Internet and virtual reality before either existed.

[taken from Idoru, 1996]