Biography
The creator of one of the most beloved novels of all time, Frank Herbert revolutionised the science-fiction genre when Dune was published in 1965, and paved the way for future space sagas such as Star Wars and Game Of Thrones.
Born in Tacoma, Washington in 1920, Frank Patrick Herbert Jr. was an intelligent and curious child - he was reading the newspaper by age 5 - but struggled with the rigid nature of formal education. He dropped out of college because he refused to study anything that didn’t interest him, and spent many years struggling to make ends meet, writing freelance for various newspapers and magazines. Marrying his wife, Beverley, in 1946, offered Herbert some financial stability: throughout the 1960s, Beverley was the main breadwinner for the family, allowing Herbert the opportunity to focus on writing full time.
Always a fan of science fiction, Herbert began working on Dune in 1959; it was published in 1965 to mild success, after being rejected by 23 publishers. It wasn’t until the 1970s that Herbert began to enjoy commercial success, and he went on to write over 30 novels, of which six were set in the Dune universe.
Frank Herbert was passionately interested in politics, psychology and ecology, and the publication of Dune marked a turning point in science-fiction, focusing on human society rather than futuristic technologies. With epic world-building, political intrigue, ecological disasters and real-world problems, Frank Herbert’s novels hold a mirror up to society and dare us to question everything we believe in.
