Frederik Pohl Biography

Frederik Pohl was a prolific writer and editor of science fiction and the winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula awards, best known as the author of The Space Merchants (with Cyril Kornbluth) and Gateway. Pohl grew up in New York City and dropped out of high school in the 1930s to work in science fiction as an editor and agent for other writers. On the side, he wrote his own poems and short stories, using a variety of pen names. After a stint in Italy during World War II, Pohl returned to New York and began working full-time for science fiction magazines, while collaborating with other writers as co-writer, editor and agent. He was instrumental in getting Isaac Asimov‘s A Pebble in the Sky published, and by the 1950s, Pohl was making a living off his own work as well. During his career, he won six Hugos (as both writer and editor) and three Nebulas, along with a host of other awards. He collaborated with Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein and many others, and helped the careers of a generation of science fiction writers in the mid-20th century. He also wrote several non-fiction books on a variety of subjects, traveled and lectured widely and championed a sci-fi world that centered around stories of average joes. Pohl’s books include The Space Merchants (1952), Gateway (1977), Jem: The Making of a Utopia (1979), The Day the Martians Came (1988) and The Other End of Time (1996).