Orson Scott Card

**Orson Scott Card** (born August 24, 1951) is a popular American writer, critic, political writer, and speaker. He is best known for his science fiction books. Both his novel _Ender's Game_ and its sequel, _Speaker for the Dead_, won the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award. That makes Card the only writer (as of 2007) to win both of science fiction's top prizes two years in a row.

Card is an English professor at Southern Virginia University. He has written two books on creative writing. Card teaches other people about writing. He is also a judge in the Writers of the Future competition. His great-great-grandfather is Brigham Young, who was a leader for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Card is also a member of it.

Card still writes many fiction works. He has also produced writing about church, politics, and society in his columns and books.

## Early Life

Card is the son of Willard Richards Card and Peggy Jane (maiden name Park). He is the third of six children. Songwriter Arlen Card is his younger brother.  Card was born in Richland, Washington. He grew up in Santa Clara, California, Mesa, Arizona, and Orem, Utah. He went on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Brazil. Card graduated from Brigham Young University (BYU) and the University of Utah. He also spent a year in a Ph.D program at the University of Notre Dame.

For part of the 1970s Card worked as an associate editor of the _Ensign_, which is an official magazine of the LDS Church.

Card lives in Greensboro, North Carolina. Greensboro has greatly affected _Ender's Game_ and many of his other works.

## Fiction

Card started his writing career as a poet. He studied with Clinton F. Larson at Brigham Young University, in Utah.  Card studied about the theater and started turning books into plays and then started writing his own full-length plays.  Many of his plays were produced by theater directors at BYU. He also started writing fiction. The fiction stories that he wrote in college later became _The Worthing Saga_.

At BYU, Card started a theater company, which produced plays at "the Castle," an outdoor stage in Provo. His company's plays were the first plays ever produced at the Castle. Card also got a part-time job as a proofreader at BYU Press. Later, he got a full-time job copy editing. In 1976, Card got a full-time job as an assistant editor at the _Ensign_, a church magazine. He moved to Salt Lake City. There, Card published his first piece of fiction, a short story called "Gert Fram." It was printed in the July 1977 fine arts magazine under the pen name Byron Walley.

### Science fiction

Card wrote a short story called "Ender's Game" while he worked at the BYU Press. He sent it to several publications. The story is about a school in which boys can fight in space. He later turned the short story into a novel, also called _Ender's Game_.

Both _Ender's Game_ and the second book in the same series, _Speaker for the Dead_, were given the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award. That made Card the only author () to win both of science fiction's top awards two years in a row.  The series also includes the books _Xenocide_, _Children of the Mind_, _Ender's Shadow_, _Shadow of the Hegemon_, _Shadow Puppets_, "First Meetings in the Enderverse", _Shadow of the Giant_, _Shadows in Flight_, _A War of Gifts_, and _Ender in Exile_. _Ender in Exile_ takes place in between _Ender's Game_ and _Speaker for the Dead_. Card has said he plans to write a book, _Shadows Alive_, to link the _Shadow_ series and the _Speaker_ series together.   He has also written three books that take place before _Ender's Game_: _Earth Unaware_, _Earth Afire_, and _Earth Awakens_. The trilogy tells the history of the character Mazer Rackham and other things. In 2013 the novel _Ender's Game_ was made into a movie.  Asa Butterfield played the character Ender ,and Gavin Hood directed the movie.

Some of Card's other science fiction books include _The Tales of Alvin Maker_, _Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus_, The Homecoming Saga, and _Hidden Empire_.

### Other genres

Card has branched out into other areas of fiction with books such as _Lost Boys_, _Treasure Box_ and _Enchantment_. He wrote a novel about the James Cameron film _The Abyss_ and the comic book _Ultimate Iron Man_ for a Marvel Universe series. In the early 1990s, Card wrote the narration in three video games: _Loom_, _The Secret of Monkey Island_, and _The Dig_.

In 1983, Card published the novel _Saints_. It is a fiction book about one of Card’s ancestors, who joined the LDS Church in its early days. Card writes about his ancestor's life until Utah became a state.

In 2000, Card published the first book in _The Women of Genesis_ series. The books tell the story of the women in the Bible.  They are 'Sarah_ (2000), _Rebekah_ (2002), and _Rachel and Leah_ (2004).

In 2005, Card started a magazine, _Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show_. He edited the first two issues, but he was too busy to keep up with it. Edmund R. Schubert was one of Card's former students. Schubert took over the magazine and became the editor in 2006.
Card also wrote the dialog and the screenplay for the Xbox video game _Advent Rising'’.

In 2008, Card's short book _Hamlet's Father_ was published in _The Ghost Quartet_ collection (Tor Books). It is a retelling of Shakespeare's _Hamlet_.

## Awards

- 1978; John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer; from the World Science Fiction Convention
- 1981; _Songmaster_; Hamilton-Brackett Memorial Award 81
- 1984; _Saints_; named Book of the Year by Association for Mormon Letters
- 1985; _Ender's Game_; Nebula Award 85, Hugo Award 86, Hamilton-Brackett Award 86, SF Chronicle Readers Poll Award 86
- 1987; _Speaker for the Dead_; Nebula Award 86, Hugo Award 87, Locus Award 87, SF Chronicle Readers Poll Award 87
- 1987; "Eye for Eye"; Hugo award 88; "Japanese Hugo" 89
- 1987; "Hatrack River"; Nebula finalist 86, Hugo finalist 87, World Fantasy Award winner 87
- 1988; _Seventh Son_, Hugo finalist 88, World Fantasy finalist 88, Mythopoeic Society Award 88, Locus Award (best fantasy novel) 88
- 1989; Hugo & Nebula Finalist; _Red Prophet_
- 1991; Hugo Award; _How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy_ (Writer's Digest Books, 90)
- 1995; Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel; for _Alvin Journeyman_
- 2008; YALSA Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Contribution to Young Adult Literature; for _Ender's Game_ and _Ender's Shadow_

## Infobox (writer)

- **name**: Orson Scott Card
- **image**: Orson Scott Card at BYU Symposium 20080216 closeup.jpg
- **imagesize**: 250px
- **caption**: Card at a science fiction and fantasy symposium at Brigham Young University in 2008.
- **pseudonym**: Byron Walley
- **birth place**: Richland, Washington, Richland, Washington
- **occupation**: Novelist, English Professor
- **genre**: Science fiction, Fantasy, Horror fiction, Horror, LDS fiction
- **notableworks**: Ender's Game series