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Kathleen Goonan
Author, Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology
Kathleen Ann Goonan Bio Kathleen Ann Goonan has been at the vanguard of literary science and speculative fiction since the publication of her New York Times Notable Book Queen City Jazz in 1994. She melds cutting-edge science with postmodern elements, strong characterization, history, and jazz in writing that Publisher’s Weekly described as “ . . . the work of a powerful imagination with a superior command of language.”
Goonan has been invited to speak at government think tanks, at universities, and at international literary festivals such as Kosmopolis in Barcelona and Utopioles in Nantes. She examines the rapid societal transformations brought about by science and technology and how trends in nanotechnology, medicine, and education will impact our future. Goonan’s novels and ideas were featured in a Scientific American special Nanotechnology issue, are studied at UCR, MIT, RIT and other universities, and are featured in scholarly books and papers. Her interests include nanotechnology, superstring theory, the history of science, longevity, and how science-based education will positively impact our future world. Her novels have been finalists for the Arthur C. Clarke and Nebula Awards. In War Times won the Campbell Award for Best Science Fiction Novel of 2007 and was selected as Best Science Fiction Novel of the Year by the American Library Association. Goonan’s latest novel, This Shared Dream, explores themes and characters first presented in In War Times: the nature of memory (drawing on Eric Kandel’s groundbreaking research), the possibilities of a world without war, and the power of literacy and communication. Her vision of individual empowerment hinges on the establishment of nanotech-enabled community-oriented international schools based on recent discoveries about neuroplasticity and how we learn. She first presented this concept in a paper given at the Joint Services Small Arms Project “Futuristic Small Arms” meeting in Crystal City in conjunction with SIGMA. The Washington Post says “This Shared Dream is a novel about connectedness, in every sense, and the possibility of greater harmony in what used to be called the family of man.” A graduate of Virginia Tech, Ms. Goonan is currently a Visiting Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she teaches science fiction literature, creative writing, and the history of science in the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture. Before becoming a full-time writer, and with Association Montessori Internationale training, she established, administrated, and taught in her own 100-student Montessori school. She is presently working on her novel Hemingway’s Hurricane. Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, she now lives in Florida, Tennessee, and Atlanta with her husband, Joseph Mansy. Find This Shared Dream online at www.thisshareddream.com . Goonan’s personal website is
http:// www.goonan.com ; blog, www.goonan.com/blog @kathleengoonan
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