William Ford Gibson was born near Myrtle Beach on March 17, 1948 in Conway, South Carolina. In 1972 he moved to Vancouver, Canada. He is married with two children. In the early 1980s he wrote Neuromancer, and with this novel he established a new kind of science fiction literature called cyberpunk. William Gibson defined the word cyberspace, and described virtual reality long before we saw the similarities with todays Internet. He has won the Hugo Award, Nebula Award and the Philipp K. Dick Award.

What makes William Gibson an important author? He is, for one, one of the fathers of cyberpunk literature. Neuromancer.ca defines cyberpunk as "a type of science fiction story, which deals with a more realistic, gritty future; deals with computers, networks, hackers, drugs, gangs, etc..." Author Bruce Sterling gives a similar definition of the grim cyberpunk viewpoint:
"Anything that can be done to a rat can be done to a human being. And we can do most anything to rats. This is a hard thing to think about, but it's the truth. It won't go away because we cover our eyes. This is cyberpunk."

Cyberpunk became mainstream in the 1980's, but its origins can be traced back to Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? which is better known by the name of the movie it inspired, Blade Runner. Authors who saw a dark, sinister future and realized the emerging hacker culture, became cyberpunk authors.

Awards Nebula Best Short story nominee (1981) : Johnny Mnemonic Nebula Best Novellette nominee (1982) : Burning Chrome Nebula Best Novel winner (1984) : Neuromancer Nebula Best Novellette nominee (1985) : Dogfight Hugo Best Novel winner (1985) : Neuromancer Nebula Best Novellette nominee (1986) : The Winter Market Hugo Best Novellette nominee (1986) : Dogfight Nebula Best Novel nominee (1986) : Count Zero Hugo Best Novellette nominee (1987) : The Winter Market Hugo Best Novel nominee (1987) : Count Zero Nebula Best Novel nominee (1988) : Mona Lisa Overdrive Hugo Best Novel nominee (1989) : Mona Lisa Overdrive Nebula Best Novel nominee (1991) : The Difference Engine Hugo Best Novel nominee (1994) : Virtual Light Novels Shakespeare's Game (1978) Burning Chrome (1986) The Difference Engine (1990) (with Bruce Sterling) Johnny Mnemonic: The Screenplay and the Story (1995) Pattern Recognition (2003) Series Bridge Virtual Light (1993) Idoru (1996) All Tomorrow's Parties (1999) Sprawl Neuromancer (1984) Count Zero (1986) Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988) Short Stories The Belonging Kind (1981) (with John Shirley) The Gernsback Continuum (1981) Johnny Mnemonic (1981) Burning Chrome (1982) Fragments of a Hologram Rose (1984) New Rose Hotel (1984) Dogfight (1985) (with Michael Swanwick) The Winter Market (1986) Thirteen Views of a Cardboard City (1997)