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John Kessel

John Kessel, American author, poet, and playwright

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Born
September 24, 1950
Age in 2026
76
Zodiac sign
Libra
Birth year
1950

About John Kessel

John Joseph Vincent Kessel is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. He is a prolific short story writer, and the author of four solo novels, Good News From Outer Space (1989), Corrupting Dr. Nice (1997), The Moon and the Other (2017), and Pride and Prometheus (2018), and one novel, Freedom Beach (1985) in collaboration with his friend James Patrick Kelly. Kessel is married to author Therese Anne Fowler. Kessel won a Nebula Award in 1982 for his novella Another Orphan, in which the protagonist finds himself living inside the novel Moby-Dick. His short story "Buffalo" won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award and the Locus poll in 1992. He won a second Nebula Award for his 2008 novelette Pride and Prometheus, a melding the tales of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The novelette also won a 2009 Shirley Jackson Award, and was expanded into a novel by the same name in 2018.

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

John Kessel timeline

  1. Kessel won a Nebula Award in 1982 for his novella Another Orphan, in which the protagonist finds himself living inside the novel Moby-Dick.
  2. His short story "Buffalo" won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award and the Locus poll in 1992.
  3. He won a second Nebula Award for his 2008 novelette Pride and Prometheus, a melding the tales of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
  4. The novelette also won a 2009 Shirley Jackson Award, and was expanded into a novel by the same name in 2018.

The world when John Kessel was born

John Kessel was born in 1950. 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 1950

  • #1 song"Goodnight, Irene" – The Weavers
  • Top movieAll About Eve
  • Top TV showTexaco Star Theater
  • Best-selling bookThe Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentUSA beats England 1-0 in the FIFA World Cup
  • Top headlineKorean War begins as North Korea invades the South
  • Technology milestoneFirst credit card introduced (Diners Club)
  • Defining fadPoodle skirts
  • Notable inventionCredit card (Diners Club)
  • World population2.56 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderHarry S. Truman
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • Also wonMinneapolis Lakers (NBA)
  • U.S. population151.3M

1950 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in John Kessel's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19502026
Gas$0.27$3.45/gal
Average home$8,450$435,000
Average income$5,200$67,500
Minimum wage$0.75$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.46$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population151.3M341 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.