Robert Charles Wilson was born in Whittier, CA in 1953, but spent his childhood growing up near Toronto, Canada; he has, in fact, spent most of his life in Canada. He has enjoyed a popular and critically acclaimed career as a science fiction writer, beginning in 1986 with his first novel A Hidden Place, which was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award for Best Novel.

Other notable works of Wilson's include Memory Wire (1988), A Bridge of Years (1991, also nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award), Mysterium (1994, winner of the Philip K. DIck Award), Darwinia (1998, nominated for the Hugo and the Locus SF Awards for Best Novel), The Chronoliths (2001, nominated for the Hugo and Locus SF Awards for Best Novel and winner of the Campbell Award), Blind Lake (2003, nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel), the Spin series of novels: Spin (2005, winner of the Campbell Award and of the Hugo Award for Best Novel), Axis (2007, nominated for the Campbell Award ), and Vortex (2011); and Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America* (2009).