Maurice Haeems an Indian who was born in Mumbai won the prestigious Terran Prize for Science Fiction Writing by none other than Game of Throne’s author George R.R. Martin.
What is a Terran Prize Award?
Terran means Earthlings or Earthen which loosely translates to people on Earth. He once said that when astronauts look down from space they don’t see borders or logistics, they just see a blue globe. And he wishes that when humanity reaches the stars they don’t reach as countries but collectively as one world and one humanity with no discrimination. Keeping this thought in mind back in 2018, George R.R.Martin set up this prestigious award to bring aspiring Science- Fiction writers from all over the world to the Taos Toolbox. Taos Toolbox is a graduate level writing workshop that is run by Walter Jon Williams, another great American writer. This workshop happens every summer in the mountains of Northern New Mexico. The one who wins this Terran Prize gets an all-expense paid application fees for this toolbox.
Usually Taos Toolbox happens in June, but this year due to the global healthcrisis it was forced to move from June to September. It is a 13 day workshop from the 6th of September to the 19th of September. The workshop is going to be conducted in Angel Fire, New Mexico. The lectures and interactions at this workshop will be given by Nancy Kress and Walter Jon Williams. There will also be special lectures given by George R.R. Martin and E M Tippetts. This definitely is a great opportunity for the entire sci-fi writer around the world.
Who is Maurice Haeems?
Maurice Haeems was born in Mumbai and has a bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the University of Mumbai and an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Over the last 30 years, he has lived in Mumbai, London, Hong Kong, Taipei, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Dubai while pursuing professional careers in mechanical engineering, investment banking, and software entrepreneurship.
After all these careers in finance and engineering, Maurice decided to follow his true passion that is Writing, Storytelling and Film making. He won the Terran Prize for his first project which is a multi-award winning sci-fi feature film Chimera, which Maurice has written and directed. The film was released in April 2019 and that film has gotten Maurice his Terran prize award.
By Deepika Agarwal
