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Terry Ballantine Bisson

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Grinnell College University of Louisville

Terry Bisson Obituary

Published by Legacy Remembers from Feb. 5 to Feb. 7, 2024.

Berkeley - Terry Ballantine Bisson, 81, Kentucky native and award-winning science fiction author, died at home in Berkeley, CA, on January 10, 2024 following a recent cancer diagnosis.

A writer with a satirical wit and contrarian sense of humor, Bisson was the author of eight novels and six short-story collections. He rose to prominence in 1990 upon the publication of the collection "Bears Discover Fire," whose lyrical titular story swept the Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, Locus and Asimov awards that year. His prowess in the short form saw him nominated and awarded again for "They're Made Out of Meat," "Press Ann," "England Underway" and "macs." His novel "Talking Man" was nominated for a World Fantasy Award.

Bisson was also a longtime contributor to Locus magazine, penning the monthly column "This Month In History," which postulated yet-to-occur events in an imagined future. A recent profile of Bisson in The New Yorker magazine praised the column as "fascinating and familiar...strange and funny, yet oddly realistic." A collection of the columns, "Tomorrowing", will be published posthumously by Duke University Press this spring.

Bisson was born on February 12, 1942 in Madisonville, KY, and raised in nearby Owensboro by his parents, noted local architect Max Bisson, and Martha Ballantine Bisson, who both predeceased him. He attended Grinnell College and graduated from the University of Louisville. He was a long-time resident of Brooklyn, NY, Oakland, CA, and resided most recently in Berkeley, CA.

He was the nephew of several prominent Louisville residents, including U.S. Circuit Court Judge Thomas Austin Ballantine, Jr., and psychiatrist John Bell and his wife, Nancy Ballantine Bell.

He is survived by his wife, Judy Yost Jensen; siblings Katie Bisson Riggs, William Bisson, and Mary Bisson; five children, Nathaniel Bisson and husband, Keith Naftaly, Peter Bisson and wife, Sheila McLelland, Kristen Jensen, Gabriel Jensen, Welcome Bisson and husband, Dennis Chester; and eight grandchildren, Chase Bisson, Sienna Bisson, Casey Fonseca, Ocean Fonseca-Jensen, Raven Fonseca-Jensen, Annie Jensen, Kaya Chester, and Roscoe Chester. His daughter Zoe Bisson Brown predeceased him.

A celebration of Terry's life will be held in Oakland, CA, in April, and an online celebration will take place in May.

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