William Ford Gibson, born March 17, 1948, is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer recognized as a pioneer of the cyberpunk genre. Though he has distanced himself from the category, his early noir, near-future stories explored the impact of technology, cybernetics, and computer networks on humans, crafting an iconography for the Information Age before the internet became widespread. Gibson coined the term "cyberspace" in his 1982 short story "Burning Chrome" and popularized it in his acclaimed 1984 debut novel, Neuromancer. Neuromancer garnered the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and the Hugo Award.
Gibson's work includes more than 20 short stories and 12 novels, including a collaboration with Bruce Sterling. His Sprawl trilogy consists of Neuromancer (1984), Count Zero (1986), and Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988). The Bridge trilogy and the Blue Ant trilogy followed. Gibson has also contributed to major publications and collaborated with artists, filmmakers, and musicians. More recently, Gibson's novels, The Peripheral (2014) and Agency (2020), engage with technology and science fiction themes. Gibson appeared in the Amazon series "Upload" in 2023. An Apple TV+ adaptation of Neuromancer is in the works for release in 2026.
