Ken MacLeod

Ken McLeod has been appointed Writer in Residence at Edinburgh Napier University.

A three-time winner of the Libertarian Futurist Society’s Prometheus Award, the British sf writer has thirteen published novels that range from hard sf space operas like The Star Fraction (1995) to his dystopian novel, Intrusion (2012).

MacLeod’s work also has attracted scholarly attention in works like The Science Fiction Foundation’s The True Knowledge Of Ken MacLeod, edited by Andrew M. Butler and Farah Mendlesohn.

Former literary agent Sam Kelly – who runs the MA course alongside acclaimed screenwriter and author David Bishop – said MacLeod’s appointment was a “perfect fit.”

The course embraces genre writing, especially science fiction, fantasy, horror and crime writing – and was the first in Britain to offer a specialist module in writing for graphic fiction.

“Ken has tackled many of the biggest ethical and political dilemmas of our age, through artistically ambitious speculative fiction,” she said. “His work closely reflects our commitment to intellectual radicalism and genre writing. The role of the writer-in-residence is to challenge and inspire the teachers as well as the students and it’s a great privilege to be able to house our chosen influences on campus.”

Edinburgh Napier created the year-long writer in residence role in 2010. MacLeod will spend an average of two days a week at the university mentoring students.

[Thanks to Andrew Porter for the story.]