By Michael Grossberg
Acclaimed science fiction writer David Brin will receive the National Space Society’s Arthur C. Clarke Memorial Award.
Brin, a Prometheus Best Novel finalist and two-time Prometheus nominee, expressed his libertarian/liberal views about how the world should be and is evolving toward greater freedom in “Confessions of a Cheerful Libertarian,” published in the former Prometheus quarterly.
According to a report in File 770, Brin will receive the coveted Clarke Memorial Award for “his pivotal writing in sci-fi and futurism.”
David Brin will receive the award at at the National Space Society’s International Space Development Conference, which runs from June 4-7 in McLean, Virginia. Brin will be the conference’s keynote speaker.
Brin was a 1988 Prometheus Best Novel finalist for The Uplift War, part of Brin’s six-novel The Uplift Saga. Imaginative and exhilarating, the bestselling and acclaimed series is set within a vast interstellar future with a wide array of strange alien races, dazzling scientific achievements and age-old enigmas.
The Uplift War and other novels within the series are of interest to libertarians because they take seriously the concept of individual rights and explore how that applies to different evolving species that achieve rational self-awareness.
THE UPLIFT SERIES
The premise of Brin’s series, according to the publisher’s blurb, is that for nearly a billion years, every known sentient species in the universe has been the result of genetic and cultural guidance – or “uplifting” – by a previously uplifted patron race.
“Then humans are discovered. Having already uplifted chimps and dolphins, humanity clearly qualifies as an intelligent species, but did they actually evolve their own intelligence, or did some mysterious patron race begin the process, then suddenly abandon Earth?”
The series, which still feels very up-to-date today almost four decades after Brin began writing it, includes Sundiver (Book 1), Startide Rising (Book 2), The Uplift War (Book 3), Brightness Reef (Book 4), Infinity’s Shore (Book 5) and Heaven’s Reach (Book 6).
The last three novels in the series are grouped together as a self-contained Uplift Trilogy.
ABOUT DAVID BRIN
According to his bio, Brin is a scientist, public speaker and world-known author. His novels have been New York Times Bestsellers, winning multiple Hugo, Nebula, Locus and Campbell awards. Both Startide Rising and The Uplift War won Hugo and Locus SF awards for Best Novel. At least a dozen of Brin’s books have been translated into more than twenty languages.
His novel The Postman was adapted into a 1997 feature film starring Kevin Costner. Among his other novels: The Practice Effect, Heart of the Comet, Earth, Glory Season, Kiln People, Existence, The Ancient Ones and Foundation’s Triumph, set in Asimov’s Foundation Universe.
His non-fiction books include Extraterrestrial Civilization, co-written with Thomas Kuiper; The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom?; Star Wars on Trial: Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Debate the Most Popular Science Fiction Films of All Time; and Polemical Judo: Memes for Our Political Knife-fight.
THE CLARKE AWARD
Launched in 2025, the Clarke award seeks to recognize individuals who, like Arthur C. Clarke, have used creative, scientifically grounded storytelling or media to foster curiosity and enthusiasm about space exploration and contributing to public understanding and support for space development.
For more information about the conference, which is open to the general public, visit idc.nss.org
ABOUT THE LFS AND THE PROMETHEUS AWARDS
* Join us! To help sustain the Prometheus Awards and support a cultural and literary strategy to appreciate and honor freedom-loving fiction, join the Libertarian Futurist Society, a non-profit all-volunteer international association of freedom-loving sf/fantasy fans.
Libertarian futurists understand that culture matters. We believe that literature and the arts can be vital in envisioning a freer and better future. In some ways, culture can be even more influential and powerful than politics in the long run, by imagining better visions of the future incorporating peace, prosperity, progress, tolerance, justice, positive social change, and mutual respect for each other’s rights, human dignity, individuality and peaceful choices.
* Prometheus winners: For a full list of Prometheus winners, finalists and nominees – including in the annual Best Novel and Best Classic Fiction (Hall of Fame) categories and occasional Special Awards – visit the enhanced Prometheus Awards page on the LFS website. This page includes convenient links to all published essay-reviews in our Appreciation series explaining why each of the 106 works that have won a Prometheus since 1979 fits the awards’ distinctive dual focus on both quality and liberty.
* Watch videos of past Prometheus Awards ceremonies, Libertarian Futurist Society panel discussions with noted sf authors and leading libertarian writers, and other LFS programs on the Prometheus Blog’s Video page.
* Read “The Libertarian History of Science Fiction,” an essay in the international magazine Quillette that favorably highlights the Prometheus Awards, the Libertarian Futurist Society and the significant element of libertarian sf/fantasy in the evolution of the modern genre.
* Check out the Libertarian Futurist Society’s Facebook page for comments, updates and links to the latest Prometheus Blog posts.
It’s fitting to see David Brin recognized with an award connected to Arthur C. Clarke, since both writers share a talent for combining big scientific ideas with thoughtful social commentary. I also appreciate that the post highlights the connection between science fiction and real-world space advocacy through the National Space Society conference — that crossover has always been one of the genre’s most inspiring aspects.