Richard Wilson

Who was Richard Wilson?

Richard Wilson was a Nebula Award winning American science fiction writer and fan. He was a member of the Futurians, and was married at one time to Leslie Perri.

His books included the novels The Girls from Planet 5; 30-Day Wonder; and And Then the Town Took Off; and the collections Those Idiots from Earth and Time Out for Tomorrow. His short stories included "The Eight Billion"; "Mother to the World"; and "The Story Writer".

Wilson also worked in the public relations field as director of the Syracuse University News Bureau from 1964 to 1980. In 1980 he became the University's senior editor before retiring in 1982. He died in March 1987.

His other major contribution to science fiction and to Syracuse University was in successfully recruiting the donation of papers from many prominent science fiction writers to the University's George Arents Research Library. As part of this effort, Wilson wrote an article entitled "Syracuse University's Science Fiction Collections" for the May 1967 issue of the magazine Worlds of Tomorrow. The collection eventually included manuscripts, galley proofs, magazines, correspondence and art donated by Piers Anthony, Hal Clement, Keith Laumer, Larry Niven, Frederik Pohl and others, including Wilson himself. Initially housed in a warehouse annex, the papers eventually made their way to the climate-controlled top floor of Ernest Stevenson Bird Library on the Syracuse University campus. It has been called the "most important collection of science fiction manuscripts and papers in the world."