FATHER: George Farmer (1884-1950)
MOTHER: Lucile Theodora Jackson (1899-2000)
MARRIED: Bette Virginia Andre (1923-2009)
May 10, 1941 (Peoria, IL)
CHILDREN:
Philip Laird Farmer (b.1942)
Kristin Farmer (Josephsohn) (b.1945)
OCCUPATION: Science-fiction / fantasy novelist
Read a list of Uncle Phil's books and unpublished stories. You can also have a look at his official webpage.
Uncle Phil was a letterman in football and track at Peoria High School. At various times his jobs included being the groundman for a streetcar company, working in a steel mill, and technical writing for an aerospace company in Los Angeles, CA.
Went to Bradley University, where he met Aunt B. He introduced himself to the pretty redhead by throwing himself down a flight of stairs and landing at her feet.
Sold his first short story in 1945. Winner of three Hugo Awards, the Academy Awards of science-fiction: first in 1953 for New Science-Fiction Author (ie, most promising new author of 1952); second in 1968 for Short Story ("Riders of the Purple Wage"--he tied with Anne McCaffrey's "Weyr Search"); and third in 1972 for Novel (To Your Scattered Bodies Go). He was finally named a Grand Master of Science-Fiction at the Nebula Awards in Los Angeles, CA on May 7, 2001.
Uncle Phil is the man who really set me down the road to writing...not to mention helping along my eclectic reading habits. He always encouraged both my writing and my love of learning. In 1986 he sent me a pivotal letter instructing me that if I wanted to write good science-fiction I shouldn't just read science-fiction, but should broaden my reading habits to encompass a wide variety of non-fictional (and some fictional) subjects. He specifically suggested biology, anthropology, and classical poetry. By that point I had already been long obsessed with history and the classics, but from then on I discovered the joys of reading other subjects, particularly science (with a preference towards physics and astronomy). Since in a lot of ways I owe my life and who I am to the gift of discovering writing, thus in a lot of ways you could say I owe that much to him.
I wrote a public memorial to him at my online journal here.
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