Shawn Lawrence Otto

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Otto in 2017

Shawn Lawrence Otto (born April 21, 1961) is an American novelist, nonfiction author, filmmaker, political strategist, speaker, science advocate, and screenwriter and co-producer of the 2003 film House of Sand and Fog.

Biography[edit]

Otto co-founded and became the CEO of the Science Debate 2008. Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain participated in the debate.

Otto delivered keynotes at the 45th annual Nobel Conference, on "Democracy in the Age of Science",[1] at the United States National Academies, on "Examining the Mistrust of Science,",[2] the New York Academy of Sciences, the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF), and the European Conference of Science Journalists. He has discussed science and politics on National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation: Science Friday.

Otto's work has been published in Science, Salon.com, Huffington Post, MinnPost.com, Issues in Science & Technology,[3] New Scientist, and Scientific American.[4][5]

Otto lives on a hobby farm near Marine on St. Croix with his wife, Rebecca Otto, a former Minnesota State Auditor and 2018 candidate for Governor.[6][7] Their home, called "Breezy", is passive and active solar, geothermal, wind-powered, and super-insulated house that they designed and built. Otto's family forefather, C.D. Gilfillan, co-founded the Republican Party of Minnesota.[8]

Otto is a past (2009–2011) Board Chair of the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis.

Works[edit]

  • Sins of Our Fathers[9] (ISBN 978-1571311092), a novel published in 2014 that received a starred review by Publishers Weekly[10] and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.[11]
  • Screenwriter and coproducer of the DreamWorks 2003 movie House of Sand and Fog
  • Fool Me Twice: Fighting The Assault On Science In America (ISBN 978-1605292175)
  • The War on Science: Who's Waging It, Why It Matters, What We Can Do About It (ISBN 978-1571313539)[12]

Awards and honors[edit]

  • Otto's 2016 book The War on Science: Who's Waging It, Why It Matters, What We Can Do About It (ISBN 978-1571313539) won the Minnesota Book Award for General Nonfiction, in 2017.[13]
  • Otto's book Fool Me Twice won the 2012 Minnesota Book Award for non-fiction and received starred reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly.[14][15]
  • His film House of Sand and Fog was nominated for three Academy Awards.
  • Otto's first screenplay, Shining White, won the Heathcote Award, the McKnight Artist Fellowship and the Barry Morrow Fellowship.
  • He is a PEN Center USA Literary Awards finalist in screenwriting for House of Sand and Fog.
  • He is an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow for his project Hubble.[16]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "О проекте | Science Debate".
  2. ^ "Examining the Mistrust of Science". Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  3. ^ "Perspective: Science on the Campaign Trail". January 2009. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  4. ^ "Antiscience Beliefs Jeopardize U.S. Democracy". Scientific American. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  5. ^ "A Plan to Defend against the War on Science". Scientific American. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  6. ^ "Shawn Otto, spouse of Minnesota's auditor, writes first novel, but he's no novice". 6 December 2014. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  7. ^ "State auditor Rebecca Otto to run for governor". 9 January 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  8. ^ Smalley, Eugene Virgil (1896). "A History of the Republican Party". Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  9. ^ Otto, Shawn Lawrence (25 November 2014). Sins of Our Fathers. ISBN 978-1571311092.
  10. ^ "Fiction Book Review: Sins of Our Fathers by Shawn Lawrence Otto. Milkweed, $26 (352p) ISBN 978-1-57131-109-2".
  11. ^ "2014: Los Angeles Times Book Prizes Winners & Finalists". Archived from the original on 19 May 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  12. ^ "Minnesota Book Award Winners & Finalists". The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library. The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  13. ^ "Minnesota Book Award Winners & Finalists". The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library. The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  14. ^ "Shawn Lawrence Otto | Fool Me Twice". www.shawnotto.com. Archived from the original on 2011-06-19.
  15. ^ "Minnesota Book Award Winners & Finalists". Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  16. ^ "Tribeca Film Fest Announces Tribeca/Sloan Screenplay Winners". Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  • de Turenne, Veronique (January 5, 2004). "House of Sand and Fog". Variety.
  • "Star Tribune, Minneapolis, C.J. column". Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. August 3, 2006.
  • Boyle, Alan (October 20, 2008). "Science goes under the political microscope". MSNBC.

External links[edit]

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