About Philip K. Dick: 2018-2019 One Book, One Chicago Author

Philip K. Dick, author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, was born in Chicago in 1928 and lived most of his life in California. He briefly attended the University of California, but dropped out before completing any classes. In 1952, he began writing professionally.

A prolific writer, Dick published 44 novels, 121 short stories and 14 short story collections during his lifetime. He won the Hugo Award for the best novel in 1962 for The Man in the High Castle and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best novel of the year in 1974 for Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. He was the first science fiction writer to be included in The Library of America series in 2007, with The Man in the High Castle, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldrich, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Ubik. Two more collections have been issued since, including Martian Time-slip, Dr. Bloodmoney, Now Wait for Last Year, Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, A Scanner Darkly,A Maze of Death and the Valis trilogy.

Many of his works have been adapted for film and television, including the films Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, The Adjustment Bureau and the television series The Man in the High Castle, Minority Report and Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams.

Dick died on March 2, 1982, in Santa Ana, Calif., of heart failure following a stroke. His influence on science fiction literature, film, television and music lives on. Literary critic Frederic Jameson proclaimed him “The Shakespeare of Science Fiction.”