What is Richard Powers?
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] --> | image = Richard Powers (author).jpg | caption = Powers reading in April 2018 | name = Richard Powers | pseudonym = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1957|6|18}} | birth_place = [[Evanston, Illinois|Evanston]], Illinois, US | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Writer, professor of English | period = 1985–present (as writer) | genre = [[Literary novels]] | subject = | movement = | notableworks = | awards = | signature = | website = {{url|https://www.richardpowers.net}} }} '''Richard Powers''' (born June 18, 1957) is an [[Americans|American]] [[novelist]]. His writing often shows the ways modern [[science]] and [[technology]] make life different.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Birkerts|first=Sven|last2=Powers|first2=Richard|date=1998|title=Richard Powers|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40425513|journal=BOMB|issue=64|pages=62-63|issn=0743-3204}}</ref> Powers was born in [[Evanston, Illinois]]. His father was a [[High school|high school principal]]. As a boy he lived in [[Bangkok|Bangkok, Thailand]] for five years while his father worked at the International School. In 1975 he went to college at the [[University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign|University of Illinois]]. He started studying [[physics]] but changed to English. He finished a [[Master's degree|masters degree]] in 1979. He moved to [[Boston]] in 1980 to do [[computer programming]]. One day, at Boston's Museum of Fine Art, he saw a photo by [[August Sander]] of three young men. In two days he quit his job and started writing his first novel, ''Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance''. That book was praised by many [[Review|reviewers]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Biography|url=https://www.richardpowers.net/biography/|access-date=2023-02-01|website=Richard Powers|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=|date=2013-01-01|title=Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance|url=https://www.richardpowers.net/three-