Robert James Sawyer (photo ©Carolyn Clink) was born on April 29, 1960, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Robert J. Sawyer earned a Master of Arts degree from Ryerson University in Toronto in 1982, but by then he had already started his career as a science fiction writer with the publication of the short story “If I’m Here, Imagine Where They Sent My Luggage.” in the magazine “The Village Voice: The Weekly Newspaper of New York” in 1981. That activity became really important since the 1990s when he started publishing novels with “Golden Fleece” (1990). It includes some elements that have become typical of the author, focusing on some basic ideas in what is also a science fiction mystery.

In the following years, Robert J. Sawyer addressed a theme present several times in his works, the encounter-clash between science and religion, in the Quintaglio Ascension trilogy, formed by: “Far-Seer” (1992), “Fossil Hunter” (1993) and “Foreigner” (1994).

Many of Robert J. Sawyer’s stories are set on Earth in the near future and to stress those characteristics he puts in them references to popular culture. Typically, at the center of those stories, there are science and technological developments, and sometimes they have consequences for protagonists who suffer from some disease.

The ability to travel between parallel universes is at the center of the Neanderthal trilogy, composed of “Hominids” (2002), winner of the Hugo Award, “Humans” (2003), and “Hybrids” (2003).

Other stories by Robert J. Sawyer develop themes related to consciousness in various ways, with the possibility of copying it. Topics related to the nature of human consciousness are adapted to a consciousness that emerges on the Internet in the WWW trilogy consisting of: “WWW Wake” (2009), “WWW: Watch” (2010), and “WWW: Wonder” (2011).

Over the years, Robert J. Sawyer has worked with television productions such as the TV show “Charlie Jade” and the TV show “FlashForward”, based on his 1999 novel “Flashforward”. In other cases, he wrote reviews, criticisms, and various articles on television productions.

Thanks to his experience, Robert J. Sawyer has also been taught science fiction in various universities. His novels are not long by today’s standards and are written in a linear style, but offer food for thought on technical-scientific progress and on various ethical and moral problems. For these reasons he has many fans and over the years he won several awards.