William Tenn
(May 9, 1920 – February 7, 2010)
William Tenn was the penname of London-born Philip Klass who moved to the US as a child. He began writing in 1945 after being discharged from the Army, and his first story, "Alexander the Bait," was published a year later. His stories and articles have been widely anthologized, a number of them in best-of-the-year collections.
He attended the Nebula Weekend at least twice — once as Author Emeritus at the 1999 Nebula Awards Weekend in Pittsburgh, and again as a speaker at the 2003 Nebula Awards Weekend in Philadelphia.
He was a professor of English at the Pennsylvania State University in State College, where he taught — among other things — a popular course in science fiction. One of his students was David Morrell, who dedicated his first Rambo novel "First Blood" to him.
He retired to Pittsburgh, PA, and was a regular Confluence attendee. He was married to Fruma Klass for many years; they had a daughter Adina.
- Website
- Entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
- New York Times obituary by Gerald Jonas
- FindAGrave
Awards, Honors and GoHships:
- 1976 -- Disclave 20
- 1978 -- MileHiCon 10
- 1979 -- Windycon VI
- 1981 -- Toastmaster at Norwescon IV
- 1982 -- Rovacon 7
- 1983 -- Westerchron
- 1992 -- Confluence '92
- 1999 -- SFWA Author Emeritus
- 2001 -- Boskone 38 (NESFA Press Guest)
- 2003 -- Capclave 2003, Boskone 40 (NESFA Press Guest)
- 2004 -- Noreascon 4
- 2005 -- Best Related Book Hugo nominee for his book of essays and interviews Dancing Naked.
- 2006 -- Loscon 33, Forry Award
Person | 1920—2010 |
This is a biography page. Please extend it by adding more information about the person, such as fanzines and apazines published, awards, clubs, conventions worked on, GoHships, impact on fandom, external links, anecdotes, etc. See Standards for People and The Naming of Names. |