Portrait of Mary Robinette Kowal

Birthday profile

Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal, American puppeteer and author

Born
February 8, 1969
Age in 2026
57
Zodiac sign
Aquarius
Birth year
1969

About Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal is an American author, translator, art director, and puppeteer. As an author, she is a four-time Hugo Award winner, a Nebula Award and Locus Award winner, and served as the president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America from 2019-2021. She has worked on puppetry for shows including Jim Henson Productions and the children's show LazyTown. She was named after both of her grandmothers, and describes her given name, "Mary Robinette," as a double first name. Two of her short fiction works have been nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story: "Evil Robot Monkey" in 2009 and "For Want of a Nail", which won the award in 2011. Her novelette "The Lady Astronaut of Mars" won the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Novelette. The Calculating Stars, the first novel in her Lady Astronaut series, won the 2019 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 2018 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 2018 Sidewise Award for Alternate History.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Mary Robinette Kowal timeline

  1. Two of her short fiction works have been nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story: "Evil Robot Monkey" in 2009 and "For Want of a Nail", which won the award in 2011.
  2. Her novelette "The Lady Astronaut of Mars" won the 2014 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.
  3. The Calculating Stars, the first novel in her Lady Astronaut series, won the 2019 Hugo Award for Best Novel, the 2018 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 2018 Sidewise Award for Alternate History.
  4. As an author, she is a four-time Hugo Award winner, a Nebula Award and Locus Award winner, and served as the president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America from 2019-2021.

The world when Mary Robinette Kowal was born

Mary Robinette Kowal was born in 1969. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1969

  • #1 song"Sugar, Sugar" – The Archies
  • Top movieMidnight Cowboy
  • Top TV showRowan & Martin's Laugh-In
  • Best-selling bookThe Godfather – Mario Puzo

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentNew York Mets "Miracle Mets" win the World Series
  • Top headlineNeil Armstrong walks on the Moon: "One small step for man"
  • Technology milestoneApollo 11 — first humans walk on the Moon
  • Defining fadWoodstock festival
  • Notable inventionARPANET (precursor to the internet)
  • World population3.63 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderRichard Nixon
  • Sports championNew York Mets (World Series)
  • Also wonBoston Celtics (NBA)
  • U.S. population202.7M

1969 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Mary Robinette Kowal's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19692026
Gas$0.35$3.45/gal
Average home$16,400$435,000
Average income$10,900$67,500
Minimum wage$1.60$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$1.42$11.95
Postage stamp$0.06$0.73
Population202.7M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.