Leigh Brackett | |
|---|---|
 Brackett in 1941 | |
| Born | Leigh Douglass Brackett December 7, 1915 Los Angeles, California, US |
| Died | March 24, 1978 (aged 62) Lancaster, California, US |
| Occupation | Novelist, screenwriter |
| Genre | Science fiction, crime fiction |
| Notable works | Eric John Stark series |
| Spouse | |
 Literature portal | |
Leigh Douglass Brackett (December 7, 1915 – March 24, 1978) was an American author and screenwriter. Nicknamed "the Queen of Space Opera,"[1] she was one of the most prominent female writers during the Golden Age of Science Fiction. As a screenwriter, she was best known for her collaborations with director Howard Hawks, mainly writing Westerns and crime films. She also worked on an early draft of The Empire Strikes Back (1980), elements of which remained in the film; she died before it went into production.
In 1956, her book The Long Tomorrow made her the first woman ever shortlisted for the Hugo Award for Best Novel, and, along with C. L. Moore, one of the first two women ever nominated for a Hugo Award. In 2020, she posthumously won a Retro Hugo for her novel The Nemesis From Terra, originally published as "Shadow Over Mars" (Startling Stories, Fall 1944).
- ^ Liptak, Andrew (December 7, 2015). "Happy 100th Birthday to Leigh Brackett, the Queen of Space Opera!". io9.gizmodo.com. Retrieved October 17, 2022.