Friday, March 16, 2012

Honoring Gene Wolfe

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I'm on the road again.  This time I'm on my way to Chicago for An Evening To Honor Gene Wolfe at the Sanfilippo Estate in Barrington Hills this Saturday.  The Chicago Literary Hall of Fame is honoring Gene with the first "Fuller Award," acknowledging his outstanding lifetime contribution to literature.


There will be a whole host of celebrities, and my part in the festivities will take up only a minute or two. So I'm spending an entire weekend and umpety-ump dollars in travel expenses on an event that will benefit my career very little.  And why?

Because Gene Wolfe deserves it.  He has done more to make written fiction a better place to invest your time than anybody else alive today.

This is also why Gary K. Wolfe,  Neil Gaiman, Terra Mysterium, Jennifer Stevenson, Peter Sagal, Michael Dirda, Peter Straub,  Jody Lynn Nye, Patrick O’Leary, David G. Hartwell, Audrey Niffenegger, Bill Fawcett, Kyle Cassidy, and Sam Weller (among others) will be there as well.

You can read about the event here.  I'll write a few words about the experience when it's over.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, this should be an amazing night. Have a safe trip, a great time and please nudhz Mr. Wolfe for the conclusion of the Soldier series :0)

Michael Swanwick said...

Nudz Gene Wolfe? Remember what C.S. Lewis said when an interviewer asked if he'd influenced J.R.R. Tolkien? "Influence Tolkien? As well try to influence a bandersnatch!"

But I agree with you entirely that it would be a very fine thing if Latro finally made his way back to Rome.