Kate Wilhelm (1928–2018) was an American writer of science fiction, mystery, suspense, and literary fiction. Born in Toledo, Ohio, she began publishing fiction in the 1950s and became one of the most influential writers in speculative fiction during the following decades. Her work often combined science-fiction premises with psychological realism, social criticism, family conflict, environmental anxiety, and questions of identity. Her best-known novel, Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang (1976), depicts a post-disaster society dependent on human cloning and won the Hugo Award and the Locus Award. She also received Nebula Awards for the novelette “The Planners” and the novella “The Girl Who Fell into the Sky,” among other major honors. Wilhelm wrote more than forty novels and numerous short stories. In addition to science fiction, she created the long-running Barbara Holloway series of legal mysteries, centered on an Oregon defense attorney. Her other notable novels include The Clewiston Test, Juniper Time, Welcome, Chaos, and Huysman’s Pets. She was married to fellow science-fiction writer Damon Knight from 1963 until his death in 2002. Together they helped establish the Clarion Writers Workshop, which became an important training ground for generations of speculative-fiction authors. Wilhelm died in Eugene, Oregon, in 2018.
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