Memorable Manitobans: Alfred Elton van Vogt (1912-2000)

Author.

Born on a farm at Edenburg, Manitoba on 26 April 1912, he later moved to Winnipeg. His first science fiction story was published professionally in July 1939. He moved to California in 1944 and wrote for the magazine Astounding Science Fiction along with L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology. Over the course of a long career, he wrote 85 novels and collections of short stories, including the classics Slan, The Voyage of the Space Beagle, and Weapon Shops of Isher. In 1995, he was awarded the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award by the Science Fiction Writers of America, the only Canadian to be so recognized. He died on 26 January 2000. He is commemorated by the A. E. Van Vogt Award of the Winnipeg Science Fiction Association.

Sources:

“Science-fiction grandmaster van Vogt dies at 87”, Winnipeg Free Press, 2 February 2000, page 52.

Press release, Winnipeg Science Fiction Association, 26 April 2012.

This profile was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Profile revised: 11 May 2012

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