Herley, Richard 1950 en 7 20440 My external life has been uneventful and provides scant material for an exciting autobiography. I am of Anglo-Irish extraction and was born in 1950, at Watford in Hertfordshire, England. Except for a spell in Marin County, California, I lived in Hertfordshire until 1993, when increasing urbanization drove me away. My home is now a village in the Hampshire Downs. I was educated at Watford Boys' Grammar School and Sussex University, where my interest in natural history led me to read biology. As my course went on I found I was not really cut out to be a scientist, but I finished it anyway and graduated in 1971. I enjoyed my time in Sussex, where I discovered its coast and downland countryside. From my earliest years, English had been my "best" subject, and shortly before my final exams I decided to try to become a professional writer. The job of the artist - in whichever medium he or she works - is an important one, since, conscientiously practised, it helps us to make sense of ourselves and the world. Authorship is not an easy path to follow. I continue to work at the craft and marvel at its subtlety. I prefer a conventional storytelling framework. This offers the greatest potential for the writer: a reader who wants to know "what happens next" is the most receptive and stands to gain the most of all. Kessel, John 1950 en 1 2946 John Kessel (b. 24 September 1950 in Buffalo, New York) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. He is a prolific short story author with several longer works to his credit. He won a Nebula Award in 1982 for his story "Another Orphan," in which the protagonist finds himself living inside the novel Moby Dick. His short story "Buffalo" won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award and the Locus poll in 1992. His novella "Stories for Men" shared the 2002 James Tiptree Award for science fiction dealing with gender issues with M. John Harrison's novel "Light." He also is a widely published science fiction and fantasy critic, and organizes the Sycamore Hill Writer's Workshop. Having obtained a Ph.D. in English from the University of Kansas in 1981, Kessel has taught classes in American literature, science fiction, fantasy, and fiction writing at North Carolina State University since 1982. He was named as the first director of the MFA Creative Writing Program at NCSU and currently shares the directorship of creative writing with Wilton Barnhardt. In 2007, his short story, "A Clean Escape" was adapted for ABC's science fiction anthology series Masters of Science Fiction. Source: Wikipedia