Photo: Phoebe / CC BY-SA 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Richard Powers is one of those writers who makes you feel slightly embarrassed for every novel you've ever called "ambitious" — because he just keeps raising the bar. Born in Evanston, Illinois, trained as a physicist before pivoting to fiction, he writes books where the science isn't decoration: it's the emotional core. The Overstory blew me away not just because it won the Pulitzer in 2019, but because it made me genuinely grieve for trees in a way I hadn't thought possible. The Echo Maker, his National Book Award winner, does something equally uncanny with neuroscience and identity. A MacArthur "genius" grant back in 1989 felt like the establishment catching up to something readers already knew. He's not the easiest novelist — his books demand patience — but they reward you with a kind of expanded consciousness that very few writers can deliver.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Richard Powers
- Name (Japanese)
- リチャード・パワーズ
- Reading
- りちゃーど・ぱわーず
- Born
- June 18, 1957 (age 69)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Gemini / Rooster
- Origin
- Evanston, Illinois, United States
- Occupation
- novelist / writer / science fiction writer / programmer
2. Background
- High school
- DeKalb High School
- University
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Awards & achievements
- 1989 MacArthur Fellows Program
- 2006 National Book Award
- 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
- 2020 William Dean Howells Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
- 1999 Society of American Historians Prize for Historical Fiction
- 2003 Dos Passos Prize
- 2018 Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine
4. Personality
Motto
Private
5. Works & records
| Category | Title | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notable work | Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance | — | |
| Notable work | The Echo Maker | — | |
| Notable work | Galatea 2.2 | — | |
| Notable work | Operation Wandering Soul | — |
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Richard Powers born?
Born June 18, 1957 (age 69).
Where is Richard Powers from?
Richard Powers is from Evanston, Illinois, United States.
What does Richard Powers do?
Richard Powers works as novelist, writer, science fiction writer, programmer.
What is Richard Powers known for?
Notable works include Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance, The Echo Maker, Galatea 2.2.
Novelist — see all → · Writer — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.