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Skriven 2005-06-07 21:21:48 av Koslow (1:379/45)
Ärende: Robert Heinlein CentenniaL Press Release
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From: Koslow <koslow@mchsi.com>


www.HeinleinCentennial.com


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Robert A. Heinlein Centennial Convention Set for July 2007 in Kansas City,
Missouri

May 24, 2005 - Plans were announced today for a major convention to be held in
Kansas City, Missouri to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of
American author Robert A. Heinlein. Heinlein's birth on 7/7/1907 will be
celebrated on the weekend of 7/6 - 7/8/2007, with a series of major events on
the centennial day, Saturday, 7/7/2007.

The Heinlein Centennial Convention will be a multi-faceted event celebrating
Heinlein's life, works and far-reaching influence. More than 3,000 professional
and amateur attendees from throughout the US and around the world are expected
to participate in distinct tracks focusing on Heinlein's contributions to
science fiction, American literature, the American aerospace industry and
commercial development of space, and film and television. Evaluation of
Heinlein's overall impact on American culture and politics will be an integral
part of all the tracks.

The Hyatt Regency Crown Center & Westin Crown Center hotels, adjacent to the
Crown Center complex in downtown Kansas City, have been selected as the site of
the Heinlein Centennial Convention. All three venues will host various
Convention events. The convention is sponsored and organized by Heinlein
Centennial, Inc., a California nonprofit corporation.

Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein, born in Butler, Missouri on July 7, 1907, became known
by the 1940s as one of the premier writers of speculative fiction and was later
widely credited as an influence on postwar American literature and the US space
program. Heinlein grew up in Kansas City and later attended the United States
Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He was commissioned with a background in
naval engineering in 1929 and served as a line naval officer until his medical
discharge in 1934.

Heinlein worked at a variety of trades, including grassroots political work,
until 1939, when he turned to writing as a profession. Within two years, he was
one of the most highly regarded authors in science fiction. During World War
II, he returned to naval aircraft engineering as a civilian, spending the war
years at the Naval Air Experimental Station in Philadelphia.

It was in the decades immediately following the war that Heinlein wrote the
works for which he is most highly regarded, including the award-winning and
controversial novels Starship Troopers (1959) and Stranger in a Strange Land
(1961), the latter of which introduced the word "grok" to the language and
strongly influenced the counterculture of the 1960s. He also wrote twelve
novels for young adults that helped redefine and refine the notion of "juvenile
literature," and some 40 other important novels and book-length works. Several
of his novels have been turned into feature films, with his other works in
frequent option for development.

Robert Heinlein died on May 8, 1988 in Carmel, California, leaving a
substantial literary and philosophical legacy that was managed by his widow
Virginia until her death in 2003, and is now managed by the Heinlein Prize
Trust (www.heinleinprize.com), among whose aims is to continue Heinlein's
lifetime championing of space progress by presenting the US$500,000 "Heinlein
Prize" for advances in commercial space development. Heinlein also left
millions of readers and admirers worldwide, with his works translated into most
of the world's major languages. Seventeen years after his death, the majority
of his published works are still in print and selling briskly.

Much more than a "science fiction writer," Robert Heinlein was an important and
influential American philosopher and thinker. His impact can be discerned in
postwar through present-day American fiction, current political circles, and
perhaps most importantly, on the US space program. His writings from 1945
through 1960 are credited with influencing a generation of engineers that went
on to build Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and the Space Shuttle. Near the end of his
life, he was still involved with space policy, contributing to discussions on
the military uses of space.

Heinlein Centennial, Inc.
Heinlein Centennial Inc. is a nonprofit organization formed to help further
understanding and appreciation of Robert Heinlein's contributions to
literature, aerospace development, politics and society. The Heinlein
Centennial Convention is the keystone of its initial efforts, which also
include plans to develop documentary material about Heinlein's life and work,
and to help scholars and researchers build on the existing legacy of
understanding. Press and all interested persons are invited to add
www.HeinleinCentennial.com to their regular browsing lists, as information and
content will be updated and expanded continually over the next two years.

Board Chairman William H. Patterson Jr (Bill.Patterson@HeinleinCentennial.com)
is in his second term as Heinlein Scholar at University of California, Santa
Cruz, where Heinlein's working materials are archived. He is the co-author of
The Martian Named Smith: Critical Perspectives on Robert A. Heinlein's Stranger
in a Strange Land (Nitrosyncretic Press, 2001), and the official Heinlein
biographer, with the first volume of the work now in press. He currently
resides in Santa Cruz, California.

Board Secretary/Treasurer James Gifford (James.Gifford@HeinleinCentennial.com)
has been involved in the study of Heinlein's work for more than a decade. He is
the founder and principal of Nitrosyncretic Press (www.nitrosyncretic.com) and
the author of the Hugo Award nominee Robert A. Heinlein: A Reader's Companion
(Nitrosyncretic Press, 2000), the definitive annotated bibliography of
Heinlein's works. He resides in Sacramento, California.

Also on the Convention Executive Committee, which is responsible for shaping
the Centennial Convention's events and content, are Alan Koslow, M.D., of Des
Moines, Iowa (Alan.Koslow@HeinleinCentennial.com) and Peter Scott of Victoria,
British Columbia (Peter.Scott@HeinleinCentennial.com). An extraordinary array
of support people, celebrities, scholars and engineers are involved with the
development of the Heinlein Centennial Convention. An expanded list of involved
parties, chairpersons and speakers, as well as a preliminary schedule of
events, will be released soon.

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