George R. R. Martin

(1948 --)

Born in New Jersey, George R. R. Martin, sometimes called “Railroad” for his middle initials, made his first pro sale to Galaxy in 1971 and quickly became a leading short sf writer getting Hugo and Nebula nominations.

A fan as well as a pro, Martin regularly attends cons. In 1976, at MidAmeriCon Martin and Gardner Dozois conceived of and organized the first Hugo Losers Party for the evening following the convention's Hugo Awards ceremony.

He attended college at Northwestern University and lived in Chicago during the 1960s and ’70s, where he was active in local fandom, and regularly attended Midwestcon. Next, he moved to Iowa, where he was one of the founders of ICON.

Besides written sf, he worked in Hollywood on a revival of Twilight Zone, and on Beauty and the Beast, while also developing the multi-volume, multi-author Wild Cards series.

He has become stunningly successful with his Game of Thrones series which has sold quintillions of copies and been turned into a very successful HBO series, leading Martin to be declared the American Tolkien.

He taught at Clarion West in 1998, he collects medieval-themed miniatures and has a house devoted to his collection. In the early 1970s he was in a relationship with fellow pro Lisa Tuttle. He later married Gale Burnick, but divorced her in 1979. He is married to Parris McBride.

Awards, Honors and GoHships:

• 1975 -- Best Novella Hugo
• 1976 -- Solarcon II
• 1977 -- Archon 1
• 1978 -- Dubuquon I, Totocon 2
• 1979 -- Coastcon '79, Dubuquon II
• 1980 -- TusCon 7, Best Short Story Hugo, Best Novelette Hugo
• 1983 -- Windycon X, MileHiCon 15
• 1984 -- (Coveted) Balrog Award
• 1985 -- ICON 10, Rivercon X
• 1986 -- AggieCon XVII, Bubonicon 18, OryCon '86
• 1987 -- Tropicon VI, Fantasycon XII
• 1988 -- WisCon 12, Bram Stoker Award
• 1989 -- AggieCon XX, New Orleans SF & Fantasy Festival '89
• 1990 -- Danse Macabre, Archon 14, Marcon XXV
• 1991 -- Toastmaster at Baycon '91
• 1993 -- Helicon
• 1994 -- Conozoic, 1994 World Fantasy Convention, Necronomicon 13th, Vikingcon 15
• 1995 -- InCon '95, Jack Williamson Lectureship
• 1997 -- Archon 21, Best Novella Hugo
• 1998 -- Thylacon 2
• 2001 -- Boskone 38, Archon 25
• 2002 -- Parcon 2002, Jack Williamson Lectureship
• 2003 -- Torcon 3
• 2004 -- Foolscap VI, Skylark Award
• 2005 -- 2BeContinued 4, Conestoga 9, Toastmaster at ConQuesT 36
• 2006 -- Vericon VI, British Fantasy Award nomination
• 2007 -- InConJunction XXVII, Trinoc*coN 2007
• 2008 -- Odyssey Con VIII
• 2009 -- Finncon 2009, COSine 2009
• 2010 -- ConQuesT 41, Octocon 2010
• 2011 -- One of Time Magazine's "Most influential people of 2011"
• 2012 -- Olympus, MisCon 26, World Fantasy Convention Life Achievement Award
• 2013 -- AggieCon 44, Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form Hugo
• 2015 -- Norwescon 38, ConQuesT 46
• 2016 -- Balticon 50, TusCon 43, MystiCon 2016
• 2020 -- Toastmaster at CoNZealand

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1948—

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