Wednesday, July 15, 2009 6:07 PM
Canadian sci-fi pioneer Phyllis Gotlieb passes away
Phyllis Gotlieb, one of Canada's best-known science fiction writers, has passed away. She was 83.
Gotlieb died Tuesday in Toronto, according to a notice published on the website of a Toronto funeral home. She was best known for her groundbreaking science fiction novels such as Sunburst (1964), O Master Caliban (1976) and A Judgment of Dragons (1980), but she started her writing career by publishing a booklet of poems in 1961 called Who Knows One. In 1970 she was nominated for a Governor General's Award for her poetry collection Ordinary Moving.
But her novels will define her career for most readers. According to an online profile of the writer, Gotlieb struggled for years to publish a sci-fi novel, until finally breaking through with Sunburst. It was a defining moment for Canada, according to The Canadian Encyclopedia:
"That's when she became the grandmother of us all," says Robert Sawyer, the most prominent author in a now-flourishing national scene. "She was the one - till the '80s, the only one - who proved you could sit in Toronto and write major science fiction and sell it to major American publishers."
Sunburst is now the name of an annual Canadian prize for the best science fiction novel.
The Globe will be publishing more on Gotlieb in the days to come.
