Walter Alexander Willis (1919-1999) was a well-known Irish science fiction fan, resident in Belfast. 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ...

Willis was awarded a 1958 Hugo Award as "Outstanding Actifan" (active fan), which replaced the Best Fanzine category that year. He was nominated for a best fan writer Hugo in 1969 and two retro-Hugos in the same category (in 2001, 2004 for work in 1951, 1954). In 1959 and 1957 he was nominated in the fanzine category for Hyphen, and he received fanzine retro-Hugo nominations in 2004 for Slant and Hyphen. He shared a retro-Hugo for Slant with that fanzine's art editor James White. 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Hugo is a masculine name. ... Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer. ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday For other uses, see Number 1969. ... Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Hugo Award for Best Fanzine. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... James White (April 7, 1928 - August 23, 1999) was a prolific Northern Irish author of science fiction novellas, short stories and novels. ...

His best known single work is The Enchanted Duplicator (1954), co-written with Bob Shaw, an allegory of a fan's quest to produce the perfect fanzine. Bob Shaw (December 31, 1931 - February 12, 1996) was a British science fiction author and fan. ...

Willis was known for his droll, humorous writing, especially in a column "The Harp That Once or Twice" that began in the US fanzine Quandry (not a typo) edited by Lee Hoffman in 1951. This led to Willis's fame in US science fiction fandom and to his attending the 1952 Worldcon in Chicago as a special guest, recipient of travel funds raised by fans, under the leadership of fan Shelby Vick, who called the fund-raising 'the Willis Campaign', with the slogan, "WAW with the crew in '52!' which led to the establishment of the annual Trans Atlantic Fan Fund. Lee Hoffman (born 1932) is a science fiction fan and an author of science fiction and westerns born Shirley Bell Hoffman. ... Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is the community of people actively interested in science fiction and fantasy literature, and in contact with one another based upon that interest. ... Worldcon, or more formally The World Science Fiction Convention, is the longest running science fiction convention, having been held from 1939 to 1941 and, after the interruption of World War II, every year since 1946. ...

In 1980, Richard Bergeron, also a former publisher of Willis's fan writing, produced a 600-page hardcover mimeographed fanzine, issue 28 of his fanzine Warhoon, devoted to collecting most of Willis's fannish writings.

External links

• The Enchanted Duplicator (1954)
• Hyphen (1952-1965; 1987)
• Slant (1948-1953)
• The Willis Papers (1961)