‘Brian Aldiss is one of the most influential – and one of the best – SF writers Britain has ever produced.’ Iain Banks
‘One of the truly prophetic figures of the space age…the colossus of science fiction.’
New Yorker
2025 marks the centenary of Brian Aldiss, literary giant, SF Grand Master and first president of the British Science Fiction Association
- Winner of two Hugo Awards, one Nebula Award, and one John W. Campbell Memorial Award
- Named 18th Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America (1999)
- Inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame (2004)
- Awarded an OBE for his services to literature in (2005)
- Longlisted for the Lost Man Booker Prize for The Hand-Reared Boy (2010)
His short story Supertoys Last All Summer Long was adapted by Steven Spielberg into the highly successful film AI: Artificial Intelligence in 2001. His major works, including Hothouse, Non-Stop and The Helliconia Trilogy, were among the first books to introduce the huge questions we are facing today to the speculative space – from climate change and the fallout of ecological disaster to global conflict in the digital age and AI.
Juliet Ewers, Associate Publisher at Orion, says: ‘I am honoured to be working with Brian Aldiss’ family to celebrate his centenary. He is a legendary figure in the world of SF, and I am hugely looking forward to bringing more of his wonderful books back into print, ebook and audio, reaching a whole new generation of readers. 2025 is going to be a very exciting year for all things Aldiss!’
Wendy Aldiss, Brian’s daughter, says: “The centenary is a great opportunity for us to celebrate the wonderful legacy Brian left. His themes from the past are all too present today. We eagerly anticipate new technologies reimagining his worlds and characters.”
His family, fans, publishers and readers will celebrate the centenary with a programme of new editions, exhibitions, live events, a social media campaign and the inaugural Aldiss Award for Worldbuilding.
13 – 17 August: Seattle Worldcon panel events and exhibition
18 August: Brian Aldiss’s 100th birthday / 19August: Anniversary of Brian Aldiss’s death
20 August: Publication of Hello Earth, are you there? The Best SF Stories of Brian Aldiss, introduced by William Boyd (Harper Voyager)
23 August: Opening of the Brian Aldiss Centenary Exhibition at Liverpool University
2 November: The inaugural Aldiss Award for worldbuilding in speculative fiction and gaming, awarded at the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton: https://brianaldiss.co.uk/the-aldiss-award/
6 November: Reissue of Barefoot in the Head (Gollancz)
Date TBC: Centenary exhibition at the Bodleian Library based on his extensive archives
For further information on Brian Aldiss and the centenary, please contact Norah Perkins at heritage@curtisbrown.co.uk
BRIAN ALDISS 1925-2017
Brian Aldiss OBE, was a fiction and science fiction writer, poet, playwright, critic, memoirist and artist. He was born in Norfolk in 1925. After leaving the army, Brian worked as a bookseller, providing the setting for his first book, The Brightfount Diaries (1955).
His first published science fiction work was the story ‘Criminal Record’, which appeared in Science Fantasy in 1954. Faber encouraged him to pursue his enthusiasm for SF and published Space, Time and Nathaniel (1957). He went on to write nearly 100 books and over 300 short stories, including the acclaimed novels Hothouse, Non-stop and the Helliconia trilogy, all regarded as modern classics. Besides his own writing, Brian edited numerous anthologies of science fiction and fantasy stories and the magazine SF Horizons.
The winner of two Hugo Awards, one Nebula Award, and one John W. Campbell Memorial Award, Brian was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2010, The Hand-Reared Boy (1970) was longlisted for the Lost Booker Prize.
Several of Brian’s books, including Frankenstein Unbound, have been adapted for the cinema and his story ‘Supertoys Last All Summer Long’ was adapted and released as the film AI: Artificial Intelligence in 2001, directed by Steven Spielberg.
Brian was a vice-president of the international H. G. Wells Society and in 2000 was given the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award by the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA). He was awarded the OBE for services to literature in 200, and received honourary awards from Reading and Liverpool Universities. He spent much of his life in Oxford, where his bookselling career began in 1947 and where he died in 2017.
THE ALDISS AWARD
Throughout his career Brian Aldiss, (Science Fiction Grandmaster and creator of worlds) helped nurture the creative spirit of speculative fiction that is alive and well today. In conjunction with his centenary year and with the blessing of the AldissLiterary Estate, this new prestigious award will help triumph the cultural phenomenon of world-building, and celebrate it in gaming as well as literature.
The judging panel will be made up of select members of the British Science Fiction Association, the British Fantasy Society, and the UK Interactive Entertainment Association.
LINKS
Brian Aldiss website: brianaldiss.co.uk
The Aldiss Award: thealdissaward.com
https://www.facebook.com/brianaldiss
https://bsky.app/profile/brianaldiss.bsky.social
https://www.threads.net/@brianaldisscentenary
https://x.com/brianaldiss
https://www.instagram.com/brianaldisscentenary/
