Steven Barnes facts for kids

Steven Barnes was born on March 1, 1952. He is an American writer who creates exciting stories. He writes science fiction, fantasy, and mystery books. He writes many things! This includes novels (long books), short stories, and scripts for television shows. He has also written for comic books, animated cartoons, newspapers, and magazines.

Early Life and School

Steven Barnes was born in Los Angeles, California, on March 1, 1952. He went to Los Angeles High School. After that, he studied at Pepperdine University. There, he focused on communication arts, which is about how people share information.

His Writing Career

Steven Barnes has written for many popular TV shows. He wrote several episodes for The Outer Limits and Baywatch. One of his The Outer Limits episodes, called "A Stitch In Time", even won an Emmy Award! This is a very important award for TV shows.

He also wrote an episode called "Brief Candle" for Stargate SG-1. And he wrote "The Sum of Its Parts" for the show Andromeda.

His first story was a novelette (a short novel) called "The Locusts". He wrote it with Larry Niven in 1979. It was even nominated for a Hugo Award, which is a big award for science fiction. Steven Barnes worked with Larry Niven on other books too. He also wrote three books with both Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. He said he learned a lot from working with them.

Steven Barnes's book Lion's Blood won the 2003 Endeavour Award. This book is a type of story called alternate history. In 2004, his Star Wars book, The Cestus Deception, became a New York Times bestseller. This means it was one of the most popular books in the country!

In 2009, Steven Barnes won an NAACP Image Award. He won it with his wife, Tananarive Due, and actor Blair Underwood. They won for their book In the Night of the Heat: A Tennyson Hardwick Novel.

His Life Outside of Writing

Steven Barnes is married to Tananarive Due, who is also a writer. They live in Los Angeles. They also have a video blog together where they share their thoughts.

They taught a class at UCLA called "The Sunken Place: Racism, Survival & Black Horror." The director of the movie Get Out, Jordan Peele, even surprised them by visiting their class! You can now take this class as an online webinar. Steven Barnes has two children: a daughter from his first marriage and a son from his current marriage.

Steven Barnes is also very active in martial and physical arts. He started learning them in 1969. He has a black belt in Kenpo Karate and Kodokan Judo. He can also teach Wu Ming Ta. He is learning Filipino Kali stick and knife fighting.

He is an advanced student in Jun Fan kickboxing (a style taught by Bruce Lee). He also teaches Wu-style tai chi. He is learning how to shoot a pistol for self-defense. He has a brown belt in Shorenji Jiu Jitsu. He has also learned Tae Kwon Do and Aikido.

He finished a program to teach Hatha Yoga. He is also studying Pentjak Silat, which is a fighting style from Indonesia. And he practices Ashtanga Yoga, which is a very active type of yoga.