Editing Richard Powers

{{Short description|American novelist (born 1957)}}
{{use mdy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Other people|Richard Powers}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Richard Powers
| image            = Richard Powers (author).jpg
| caption          = Powers reading in April 2018
| birth_date       = {{Birth date and age|1957|6|18}}
| birth_place      = [[Evanston, Illinois]], U.S.
| death_date       = 
| death_place      = 
| occupation       = Writer, professor of English
| period           = 1985–present (as writer)
| genre            = [[Literary novels]]
| education        = [[University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[Master of Arts|MA]])
| website          = {{url|https://www.richardpowers.net}}
| parents        = Richard Franklin Powers and Donna (Belik) Powers
}}
'''Richard Powers''' (born June 18, 1957) is an American [[novelist]] whose works explore the effects of modern science and technology. His novel ''[[The Echo Maker]]'' won the 2006 [[National Book Award for Fiction]].<ref name=nba2006>
[https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-2006 "National Book Awards – 2006"]. [[National Book Foundation]]. Retrieved March 27, 2012. (With linked information including essay by [[Harold Augenbraum]] from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.)</ref><ref name=lynn>{{cite news | author = Andrea Lynn | title = A Powers-ful Presence | url = http://www.las.uiuc.edu/news/2006/powers/ | work = LASNews Magazine | publisher = University of Illinois | date = November 2006 | access-date = 2006-11-29}}</ref> He has also won many other awards over the course of his career, including a [[MacArthur Fellowship]]. As of 2024, Powers has published fourteen novels and has taught at the [[University of Illinois System|University of Illinois]] and [[Stanford University]]. He won the 2019 [[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]] for ''[[The Overstory]]''.

==Life and work==

===Early life===
One of five children, Powers was born in [[Evanston, Illinois|Evanston]], Illinois, the son of Richard Franklin Powers and his wife Donna Powers (née Belik).<ref>Linda De Roche: Twentieth-Century and Contemporary American Literature in Context, Santa Barbara, CA 2021, p. 970.</ref> His family later moved a few miles west to [[Lincolnwood, Illinois|Lincolnwood]], where his father was a local school [[principal (school)|principal]]. When Powers was 11, they moved to [[Bangkok]], [[Thailand]], where his father had accepted a position at [[International School Bangkok]], which Powers attended through his freshman year, ending in 1972. During that time outside the U.S., he developed skills in vocal music and proficiency in cello, guitar, saxophone, and clarinet.  He also became an avid reader, enjoying nonfiction primarily and classics such as the ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]''.

The family returned to the U.S. when Powers was 16. Following graduation in 1975 from [[DeKalb High School (Illinois)|DeKalb High School]] in [[DeKalb, Illinois|DeKalb]], Illinois, he enrolled at the [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign]] (UIUC) with a [[academic major|major]] in [[physics]], which he switched to [[English literature]] during his first semester. He earned a BA in 1978 and an [[Master of Arts|MA]] in Literature in 1980. He decided not to pursue a [[PhD]] partly because of his aversion to strict specialization, which had been one reason for his early transfer from physics to English, and partly because he had observed in graduate students and their professors a lack of pleasure in reading and writing (as portrayed in ''Galatea 2.2'').{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

===Professorships and awards===
In 2010 and 2013, Powers was a Stein Visiting Writer at Stanford University, during which time he partly assisted in the lab of biochemist Aaron Straight.<ref name=stanfordnews>{{cite web|publisher=Stanford News|title=Award-winning novelist, Stanford Professor Richard Powers finds inspiration in teaching, tech and trees|date=March 25, 2014|url=http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/march/richard-powers-qanda-032514.html|author=Angela Becerra Vidergar}}</ref><ref name=raintaxi>{{cite web|title=A Fugitive Language: An interview with Richard Powers|url=http://www.raintaxi.com/a-fugitive-language-an-interview-with-richard-powers/|author=Alan Vorda|publisher=Rain Taxi (online)|date=Winter 2013–2014}}</ref>

Powers was named a [[MacArthur Fellowship|MacArthur Fellow]] in 1989.  He received a Lannan Literary Award in 1999.

Powers was appointed the Swanlund Professor of English at [[UIUC]] in 1996, where he is currently an emeritus professor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.english.illinois.edu/people/rpowers|title=Richard Powers {{!}} Department of English {{!}} University of Illinois|last=of|first=Department|website=www.english.illinois.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-04-19}}</ref>

On August 22, 2013, Stanford University announced that Powers had been named the Phil and Penny Knight Professor of Creative Writing in the Department of English.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://english.stanford.edu/news/richard-powers-joins-english-faculty |title=Richard Powers Joins the English Faculty &#124; Department of English |publisher=English.stanford.edu |date=2013-08-22 |accessdate=2021-11-19}}</ref>

===Novels===
Powers learned [[computer programming]] at Illinois as a user of [[PLATO (computer system)|PLATO]] and moved to Boston to work as a programmer. One Saturday in 1980, Powers saw the 1914 photograph "[[Young Farmers (photograph)|Young Farmers]]" by [[August Sander]] at the [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]], and was so inspired that he quit his job two days later to write a novel about the people in the photograph.<ref name="eakin20030218">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/18/books/author-science-guy-richard-powers-chronicling-technological-age-sees-novels-like.html |title=The Author as Science Guy; Richard Powers, Chronicling the Technological Age, Sees Novels, Like Computers, as Based on Codes |last=Eakin |first=Emily |date=2003-02-18 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=2019-03-26 |page=E1 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Powers spent the next two years writing the book, ''[[Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance]]'', which was published by [[William Morrow and Company|William Morrow]] in 1985. It comprises three alternating threads: a novella featuring the three young men in the photo during [[World War I]], a technology magazine editor who is obsessed with the photo, and the author's critical and historical musings about the mechanics of photography and the life of [[Henry Ford]]. It was a [[National Book Critics Circle Award]] finalist,<ref>{{cite web|title=The National Book Critics Circle Awards {{!}} 1985 Winners & Finalists|url=https://www.bookcritics.org/past-awards/1985/|access-date=2021-11-05|website=National Book Critics Circle|language=en-US}}</ref> and received the Rosenthal Award from the [[American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Awards – American Academy of Arts and Letters|url=https://artsandletters.org/awards/|access-date=2021-11-05|language=en-US}}</ref> It also received a Special Citation from the [[PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel|PEN/Hemingway Awards]].<ref>{{cite web|last=semper2013|date=2013-01-01|title=Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance|url=https://www.richardpowers.net/three-farmers-on-their-way-to-a-dance/|access-date=2021-11-05|website=Richard Powers|language=en-US}}</ref>

Powers moved to the Netherlands, where he wrote ''[[Prisoner's Dilemma (novel)|Prisoner's Dilemma]]'' about [[The Walt Disney Company]] and nuclear warfare.

He followed with ''[[The Gold Bug Variations]]'' about genetics, music, and computer science. It was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist.<ref>{{cite web|title=The National Book Critics Circle Awards {{!}} 1991 Winners & Finalists|url=https://www.bookcritics.org/past-awards/1991/|access-date=2021-11-05|website=National Book Critics Circle|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1993, Powers wrote ''[[Operation Wandering Soul (novel)|Operation Wandering Soul]]'' about, among other things, a genetic condition that causes accelerated aging, and an agonized young surgical trainee. It was a finalist for the [[National Book Award]].<ref name=nba1993>
[https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1993 "National Book Awards – 1993"]. National Book Foundation. Retrieved March 27, 2012.</ref><ref name=lynn/>

In 1995, Powers published the [[Pygmalion (mythology)|Pygmalion]] story ''[[Galatea 2.2]]'' about an [[artificial intelligence]] experiment gone awry.<ref name=Forrest2010>{{cite news|last1=Forrest|first1=Sharita|title=Richard Powers elected to American Academy of Arts and Letters|url=http://www.news.illinois.edu/news/10/0413powers.html|access-date=5 January 2015|work=News Bureau Illinois|date=2010-04-13}}</ref> It was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist.<ref>{{cite web|title=The National Book Critics Circle Awards {{!}} 1995 Winners & Finalists|url=https://www.bookcritics.org/past-awards/1995/|access-date=2021-11-05|website=National Book Critics Circle|language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1998, Powers wrote ''[[Gain (novel)|Gain]]'' about a 150-year-old chemical company and a woman who lives near one of its plants and succumbs to [[ovarian cancer]]. It won the [[James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Best Historical Fiction]] in 1999.

2000's ''[[Plowing the Dark]]'' tells of a [[Seattle, Washington|Seattle]] research team building a groundbreaking [[virtual reality]] while an American teacher is held hostage in [[Beirut]]. It received [[Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award]] from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

Powers wrote ''[[The Time of Our Singing]]'' in 2003. It is about the musician children of an interracial couple who met at [[Marian Anderson]]'s famed 1939 concert on the [[Lincoln Memorial]] steps.

Powers's ninth novel, 2006's ''[[The Echo Maker]]'', is about a Nebraska man who suffers head trauma in a truck accident and believes his caregiver sister is an impostor. It won a National Book Award<ref name=nba2006/><ref name=lynn/> and was a [[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]] finalist.<ref name=pulitzer>[http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/Fiction "Fiction"]. ''Past winners & finalists by category''. The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved March 27, 2012.</ref>

Powers's tenth novel, 2009's ''[[Generosity: An Enhancement]]'', has writing professor Russell Stone encountering his former student, Thassa, an Algerian woman whose constant happiness is exploited by journalists and scientists.

In 2014, Powers wrote ''[[Orfeo (novel)|Orfeo]]'' about Peter Els, a retired music composition instructor and avant-garde composer who is mistaken for a bio-terrorist after being discovered with a makeshift genetics lab in his house.

''[[The Overstory]]'', published in April 2018, is about nine Americans whose unique life experiences with trees bring them together to address the destruction of forests. It won the 2019 [[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]], was shortlisted for the [[Booker Prize]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://books.wwnorton.com/books/The-Overstory/|title=The Overstory {{!}} W. W. Norton & Company|website=books.wwnorton.com|access-date=2018-04-18}}</ref> and the $75,000 [[PEN/Jean Stein Book Award|2019 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pen.org/2019finalists/|title=Announcing the 2019 PEN America Literary Awards Finalists|date=2019-01-15|website=PEN America|access-date=2019-02-23}}</ref> and was runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.daytonliterarypeaceprize.org/2019-fiction_runner-up.htm| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191016165843/https://www.daytonliterarypeaceprize.org/2019-fiction_runner-up.htm| archive-date = 2019-10-16| title = Dayton Literary Peace Prize - Richard Powers, 2019 Fiction Runner-Up}}</ref>

''[[Bewilderment]]'', published in September 2021,<ref>{{cite web |title=Bewilderment: A Novel by Richard Powers (Author) |url=https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393881141 |access-date=September 7, 2021 |website=[[W. W. Norton & Company]]}}</ref> was shortlisted for the 2021 [[Booker Prize]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/14/books/booker-prize-2021-shortlist.html|title='Great Circle,' 'Bewilderment' Among Booker Prize Finalists|newspaper=The New York Times|first= Alex |last=Marshall|date=2021-09-14}}</ref> and longlisted for the National Book Award<ref>{{cite web|date=2021-09-17|title=2021 National Book Awards Longlist for Fiction|url=https://www.nationalbook.org/2021-national-book-awards-longlist-for-fiction/|access-date=2021-09-22|website=National Book Foundation|language=en-US}}</ref> and [[Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction|Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction]].<ref>{{cite web|last=JCARMICHAEL|date=2021-10-17|title=2022 Winners|url=https://www.ala.org/rusa/awards/carnegie-medals/2022-winners|access-date=2021-11-05|website=Reference & User Services Association (RUSA)|language=en}}</ref> It is described as "an astrobiologist thinks of a creative way to help his rare and troubled son in Richard Powers’ deeply moving and brilliantly original novel."<ref>{{cite web|title=Bewilderment {{!}} The Booker Prizes|url=https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/books/bewilderment|access-date=2021-09-22|website=thebookerprizes.com|date=21 September 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

''[[Playground (novel)|Playground]]'' (2024), the 14th novel by Powers, was longlisted for the [[2024 Booker Prize]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Marshall |first=Alex |date=30 July 2024 |title=Books by Rachel Kushner and Richard Powers Are Among Booker Prize Nominees |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/30/books/booker-prize-2024-longlist.html |newspaper=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
{{Main|Richard Powers bibliography}}

* {{Cite book | first = Richard | last = Powers | author-mask = 2 | title = [[Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance]] | year = 1985 | publisher = HarperCollins | isbn = 0688042015 }}
* {{Cite book | first = Richard | last = Powers | author-mask = 2 | title = [[Prisoner's Dilemma (novel)|Prisoner's Dilemma]] | year = 1988 | publisher = McGraw Hill | isbn = 0070506124 }}
* {{Cite book | first = Richard | last = Powers | author-mask = 2 | title = [[The Gold Bug Variations]] | year = 1991 | publisher = William Morrow | isbn = 0688098916 }}
* {{Cite book | first = Richard | last = Powers | author-mask = 2 | title = [[Operation Wandering Soul (novel)|Operation Wandering Soul]] | year = 1993 | publisher = HarperCollins | isbn = 0688115489 }}
* {{Cite book | first = Richard | last = Powers | author-mask = 2 | title = [[Galatea 2.2]] | year = 1995 | publisher = Farrar Straus & Giroux | isbn = 0374199485 }}
* {{Cite book | first = Richard | last = Powers | author-mask = 2 | title = [[Gain (novel)|Gain]] | year = 1998 | publisher = Farrar Straus & Giroux | isbn = 0312204094 }}
* {{Cite book | first = Richard | last = Powers | author-mask = 2 | title = [[Plowing the Dark]] | year = 2000 | publisher = Farrar, Straus & Giroux | isbn = 0374234612 }}
* {{Cite book | first = Richard | last = Powers | author-mask = 2 | title = [[The Time of Our Singing]] | year = 2003 | publisher = Farrar, Straus & Giroux | isbn = 0374277826 }}
* {{Cite book | first = Richard | last = Powers | author-mask = 2 | title = [[The Echo Maker]] | year = 2006 | publisher = Farrar, Straus & Giroux | isbn = 0374146357 }}
* {{Cite book | first = Richard | last = Powers | author-mask = 2 | title = [[Generosity: An Enhancement]] | year = 2009 | publisher = Farrar, Straus & Giroux | isbn = 0374161143 }}
* {{Cite book | first = Richard | last = Powers | author-mask = 2 | title = [[Orfeo (novel)|Orfeo]] | year = 2014 | publisher = W. W. Norton & Company | isbn = 9780393240825 }}
* {{Cite book | first = Richard | last = Powers | author-mask = 2 | title = [[The Overstory]] | year = 2018 | publisher = W. W. Norton & Company | isbn = 9780393635522 }}
* {{Cite book | first = Richard | last = Powers | author-mask = 2 | title = [[Bewilderment]] | year = 2021 | publisher = W. W. Norton & Company | isbn = 9780393881141 }}
* {{Cite book | first = Richard | last = Powers | author-mask = 2 | title = [[Playground (novel)|Playground]] | year = 2024 | publisher = W. W. Norton & Company | isbn = 9781324086031 }}

==Awards and recognition==
{{div-col }}
* 1985 Rosenthal Award of the [[American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters]]
* 1985 [[PEN/Hemingway Award]] Special Citation
* 1989 [[MacArthur Fellowship]]
* 1991 [[Time (magazine)|''Time'']] Book of the Year
* 1993 Finalist, [[National Book Award]]
* 1996 Swanlund Professorship, [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign|University of Illinois]]
* 1998 ''[[Business Week]]'' Best Business Books of 1998
* 1998 Elected Fellow, [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
* 1999 [[James Fenimore Cooper Prize]], [[Society of American Historians]]
* 1999 [[Lannan Literary Award]]
* 2000 [[Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award]], American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters
* 2000 Elected Fellow, Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois
* 2001 Corrington Award for Literary Excellence, Centenary College
* 2001 Author of the Year, Illinois Association of Teachers of English
* 2003 [[Pushcart Prize]]
* 2003 [[Dos Passos Prize for Literature]], Longwood University
* 2003 W. H. Smith Literary Award (Great Britain)
* 2004 Ambassador Book Award
* 2006 National Book Award for Fiction
* ''New York Times'' Notable Book, 2003, 2000, 1998, 1995, 1991
* Best Books of 2003: ''Chicago Tribune'', ''Christian Science Monitor'', ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'', ''Newsday'', ''London Evening Standard'', ''Time Out'' (London), ''San Jose Mercury News''
* Finalist, National Book Critics Circle Award, 2003, 1995, 1991, 1985
* 2006 Finalist, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
* 2010 Elected Member, [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]]
* 2014 [[Man Booker Prize]] (longlist)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/longlist-2014-announced |title=Longlist 2014 announced &#124; the Man Booker Prizes |access-date=2014-07-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726202101/http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/longlist-2014-announced |archive-date=2014-07-26 }}</ref>
* 2014 [[California Book Awards]] Silver Medal Fiction winner for ''Orfeo''<ref name="The Commonwealth Club">{{cite web|url=http://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/special-events/california-book-awards|title=84th Annual California Book Awards Winners|publisher=Commonwealth Club World Affairs}}</ref>
* 2018 Man Booker Prize (shortlist)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://themanbookerprize.com/fiction/news/man-booker-prize-announces-2018-shortlist |title=The Man Booker Prize announces 2018 shortlist |publisher=The Booker Prizes|access-date=2018-09-20 }}</ref>
* 2019 [[Pulitzer Prize for Fiction]]
* 2019 [[PEN Oakland awards|PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award]] for ''The Overstory''
* 2020 [[William Dean Howells Medal]] for ''The Overstory''<ref name="AAAL2020-03-24">{{cite web | title=Peter Eisenman, David Blight, Richard Powers, and Bill Henderson receive highest honors | url=https://artsandletters.org/pressrelease/2020-special-awards/ | access-date=2020-04-07 | first=Ashley | last=Fedor | publisher= American Academy of Arts and Letters | date=March 24, 2020}}</ref>
* 2021 Booker Prize (shortlist)<ref>{{Cite news |last=Flood |first=Alison |date=September 14, 2021 |title=Nadifa Mohamed is sole British writer to make Booker prize shortlist |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/sep/14/nadifa-mohamed-sole-british-writer-booker-prize-shortlist-2021 |access-date=September 14, 2021}}</ref>
* 2021 National Book Award (longlist)<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.nationalbook.org/2021-national-book-awards-longlist-for-fiction/| title = 2021 National Book Awards Longlist for Fiction - National Book Foundation| date = 17 September 2021}}</ref>
* 2024 [[Booker Prize]] (longlist)<ref>{{Cite news |last=Creamer |first=Ella |date=2024-07-30 |title=Three British novelists make Booker 2024 longlist among 'cohort of global voices' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/jul/30/three-british-novelists-make-booker-2024-longlist-among-cohort-of-global-voices |access-date=2024-07-30 |work=The Guardian}}</ref>{{div-col-end }}

==References==
{{Reflist |25em}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* {{official website }}
* [https://english.illinois.edu/directory/profile/rpowers Richard Powers, Professor Emeritus of English] at [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign|UIUC]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081226052545/http://www.richardpowers.net/ Archived official website with extensive bibliography]
* {{cite journal| url=http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/298/the-art-of-fiction-no-175-richard-powers| title=Richard Powers, The Art of Fiction No. 175| author= Kevin Berger| journal=The Paris Review | year=2002| volume=Winter 2002-2003| issue=164}}
* [http://www.slate.com/id/2151095 "Surprising Powers: Richard Powers' Scientific Humanism" by Stephen Burt] from ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]''
* [http://www.theminnesotareview.org/journal/ns52/powers.htm "The Last Generalist: An Interview with Richard Powers" by Jeffrey Williams] from ''[[The Minnesota Review]]''
* [http://www.believermag.com/issues/200702/?read=interview_powers Richard Powers talks with Alec Michod] in ''[[The Believer (magazine)|The Believer]]''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110718200356/https://honors.rit.edu/amitraywiki/index.php/Richard_Powers:_Literature,_Philosophy,_Innovation Richard Powers Course] at RIT.
* {{isfdb name|3508|Richard Powers (I)}}
* {{LCAuth|n85007982|Richard Powers|19|}}
* Review of "The Overstory" in WA-Post. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/the-most-exciting-novel-about-trees-youll-ever-read/2018/04/03/bb388a4e-3686-11e8-8fd2-49fe3c675a89_story.html]

{{Richard Powers}}
{{NBA for Fiction 2000–2024}}
{{PulitzerPrize Fiction}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Powers, Richard}}
[[Category:1957 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American novelists]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American postmodern writers]]
[[Category:Environmental fiction writers]]
[[Category:Granta people]]
[[Category:James Fenimore Cooper Prize winners]]
[[Category:MacArthur Fellows]]
[[Category:Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters]]
[[Category:National Book Award winners]]
[[Category:Novelists from Illinois]]
[[Category:People from Lincolnwood, Illinois]]
[[Category:Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners]]
[[Category:University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni]]
[[Category:University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty]]
[[Category:Writers from Evanston, Illinois]]