October 21, 2004

Science Fiction Writer Kim Stanley Robinson Visits UCSD

By Inga Kiderra

Award-winning science fiction author and University of California, San Diego alumnus Kim Stanley Robinson returns to his alma mater Thursday, Oct. 28, to talk about “Science as One of the Humanities.”

The presentation, sponsored by the UCSD Center for the Humanities, is free and open to the public. It will begin at 7 p.m. in The Great Hall of Eleanor Roosevelt College at UCSD.

Robinson will explore topics from his latest book, Forty Signs of Rain, including how institutions like the National Science Foundation and UCSD can (or cannot) focus their work to address such large-scale problems as global warming.

Robinson, who earned his PhD in English from UCSD in 1982, came to readers’ notice with his first book, The Wild Shore, in 1984. Since then, he has continued publishing at the rate of a book a year. In the early 1990s he won both popular and critical acclaim with his Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Blue Mars, Green Mars), which garnered one Nebula and two Hugos. His other well-known works include Icehenge, Pacific Edge, The Martians and The Years of Rice and Salt.

Earlier this year, Robinson launched a new trilogy with the publication of Forty Signs of Rain, which delves into the ramifications of global warming in the not-so-distant future. In reviewing this book, Publishers Weekly comments: "Robinson clearly cares deeply about our planet's future, and he makes the reader care as well."

Forty Signs of Rain will be for sale at the event, and the author will be available for signing at the reception following his talk.

Further information is available at http://humctr.ucsd.edu or by phone at (858) 534-0999.

Media Contact: Inga Kiderra, (858) 822-0661