Robert Heinlein Centennial press release
Koslow
www.HeinleinCentennial.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Robert A. Heinlein Centennial Convention
Set for July 2007 in Kansas City, Missouri
May 24, 2005 - Plans were announced today for a major convention to be held
in Kansas City, Missouri to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of
American author Robert A. Heinlein. Heinlein's birth on 7/7/1907 will be
celebrated on the weekend of 7/6 - 7/8/2007, with a series of major events
on the centennial day, Saturday, 7/7/2007.
The Heinlein Centennial Convention will be a multi-faceted event
celebrating Heinlein's life, works and far-reaching influence. More than
3,000 professional and amateur attendees from throughout the US and around
the world are expected to participate in distinct tracks focusing on
Heinlein's contributions to science fiction, American literature, the
American aerospace industry and commercial development of space, and film
and television. Evaluation of Heinlein's overall impact on American culture
and politics will be an integral part of all the tracks.
The Hyatt Regency Crown Center & Westin Crown Center hotels, adjacent to
the Crown Center complex in downtown Kansas City, have been selected as the
site of the Heinlein Centennial Convention. All three venues will host
various Convention events. The convention is sponsored and organized by
Heinlein Centennial, Inc., a California nonprofit corporation.
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein, born in Butler, Missouri on July 7, 1907, became
known by the 1940s as one of the premier writers of speculative fiction and
was later widely credited as an influence on postwar American literature
and the US space program. Heinlein grew up in Kansas City and later
attended the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He was
commissioned with a background in naval engineering in 1929 and served as a
line naval officer until his medical discharge in 1934.
Heinlein worked at a variety of trades, including grassroots political
work, until 1939, when he turned to writing as a profession. Within two
years, he was one of the most highly regarded authors in science fiction.
During World War II, he returned to naval aircraft engineering as a
civilian, spending the war years at the Naval Air Experimental Station in
Philadelphia.
It was in the decades immediately following the war that Heinlein wrote the
works for which he is most highly regarded, including the award-winning and
controversial novels Starship Troopers (1959) and Stranger in a Strange
Land (1961), the latter of which introduced the word "grok" to the language
and strongly influenced the counterculture of the 1960s. He also wrote
twelve novels for young adults that helped redefine and refine the notion
of "juvenile literature," and some 40 other important novels and
book-length works. Several of his novels have been turned into feature
films, with his other works in frequent option for development.
Robert Heinlein died on May 8, 1988 in Carmel, California, leaving a
substantial literary and philosophical legacy that was managed by his widow
Virginia until her death in 2003, and is now managed by the Heinlein Prize
Trust (www.heinleinprize.com), among whose aims is to continue Heinlein's
lifetime championing of space progress by presenting the US$500,000
"Heinlein Prize" for advances in commercial space development. Heinlein
also left millions of readers and admirers worldwide, with his works
translated into most of the world's major languages. Seventeen years after
his death, the majority of his published works are still in print and
selling briskly.
Much more than a "science fiction writer," Robert Heinlein was an important
and influential American philosopher and thinker. His impact can be
discerned in postwar through present-day American fiction, current
political circles, and perhaps most importantly, on the US space program.
His writings from 1945 through 1960 are credited with influencing a
generation of engineers that went on to build Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and
the Space Shuttle. Near the end of his life, he was still involved with
space policy, contributing to discussions on the military uses of space.
Heinlein Centennial, Inc.
Heinlein Centennial Inc. is a nonprofit organization formed to help further
understanding and appreciation of Robert Heinlein's contributions to
literature, aerospace development, politics and society. The Heinlein
Centennial Convention is the keystone of its initial efforts, which also
include plans to develop documentary material about Heinlein's life and
work, and to help scholars and researchers build on the existing legacy of
understanding. Press and all interested persons are invited to add
www.HeinleinCentennial.com to their regular browsing lists, as information
and content will be updated and expanded continually over the next two
years.
Board Chairman William H. Patterson Jr
(Bill.Pa...@HeinleinCentennial.com) is in his second term as Heinlein
Scholar at University of California, Santa Cruz, where Heinlein's working
materials are archived. He is the co-author of The Martian Named Smith:
Critical Perspectives on Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land
(Nitrosyncretic Press, 2001), and the official Heinlein biographer, with
the first volume of the work now in press. He currently resides in Santa
Cruz, California.
Board Secretary/Treasurer James Gifford
(James....@HeinleinCentennial.com) has been involved in the study of
Heinlein's work for more than a decade. He is the founder and principal of
Nitrosyncretic Press (www.nitrosyncretic.com) and the author of the Hugo
Award nominee Robert A. Heinlein: A Reader's Companion (Nitrosyncretic
Press, 2000), the definitive annotated bibliography of Heinlein's works. He
resides in Sacramento, California.
Also on the Convention Executive Committee, which is responsible for
shaping the Centennial Convention's events and content, are Alan Koslow,
M.D., of Des Moines, Iowa (Alan....@HeinleinCentennial.com) and Peter
Scott of Victoria, British Columbia (Peter...@HeinleinCentennial.com).
An extraordinary array of support people, celebrities, scholars and
engineers are involved with the development of the Heinlein Centennial
Convention. An expanded list of involved parties, chairpersons and
speakers, as well as a preliminary schedule of events, will be released
soon.