Shawn Lawrence Otto (born April 21, 1961) is an American novelist, nonfiction author, filmmaker, political strategist, speaker, science advocate, and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

and co-producer of the 2003 film '' House of Sand and Fog''.

Biography

Otto co-founded and became the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the Science Debate 2008. Presidential candidates

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

and

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

participated in the debate. Otto delivered keynotes at the 45th annual Nobel Conference, on "Democracy in the Age of Science", at the

United States National Academies The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), also known as the National Academies, is a congressionally chartered organization that serves as the collective scientific national academy of the United States. The name i ...

, on "Examining the Mistrust of Science,", the

New York Academy of Sciences The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS), originally founded as the Lyceum of Natural History in January 1817, is a nonprofit professional society based in New York City, with more than 20,000 members from 100 countries. It is the fourth-oldes ...

, the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF), and the European Conference of Science Journalists. He has discussed science and politics on

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's ''

Talk of the Nation ''Talk of the Nation'' (''TOTN'') is an American talk radio program based in Washington D.C., produced by National Public Radio ( NPR) that was broadcast nationally from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time. It focused on current events and controversial ...

Science Friday ''Science Friday'' (known as ''SciFri'' for short) is a weekly call-in talk show that broadcasts each Friday on public radio stations, distributed by WNYC Studios, and carried on over 500 public radio stations. ''SciFri'' is hosted by science ...

''. Otto's work has been published in ''

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'', ''

Salon.com ''Salon'' is an American politically progressive and liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events. Content and coverage ''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, includ ...

'', ''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...

'', '' MinnPost.com'', '' Issues in Science & Technology'', ''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a popular science magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organ ...

'', and ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...

.'' Otto lives on a

hobby farm A hobby farm (also called a lifestyle block, acreage living, or rural residential) is a smallholding or small farm that is maintained without expectation of being a primary source of income. Some are held simply to bring homeowners closer to n ...

near Marine on St. Croix with his wife, Rebecca Otto, a former

Minnesota State Auditor The state auditor of Minnesota is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Nineteen individuals have held the office of state auditor since statehood. The incumbent is Julie Blaha, a Democratic-Farmer-Labor ...

and 2018 candidate for Governor. 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 The Republican Party of Minnesota is the state affiliate of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party in Minnesota and the oldest active political party in the state. Founded in 1855, the party is headquartered in Edina, Minnesota, E ...

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

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

Works

* ''Sins of Our Fathers'' (), a novel published in 2014 that received a starred review by ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' and was a finalist for the

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize currently has nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award added in 1991), his ...

. * Screenwriter and coproducer of the DreamWorks 2003 movie '' House of Sand and Fog'' * ''Fool Me Twice: Fighting The Assault On Science In America'' () * ''The War on Science: Who's Waging It, Why It Matters, What We Can Do About It'' ()

Awards and honors

* Otto's 2016 book ''The War on Science: Who's Waging It, Why It Matters, What We Can Do About It'' () won the Minnesota Book Award for General Nonfiction, in 2017. * Otto's book ''Fool Me Twice'' won the 2012 Minnesota Book Award for non-fiction and received starred reviews from ''Kirkus'' and ''Publishers Weekly''. * His film '' House of Sand and Fog'' was nominated for three

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

. * Otto's first

screenplay A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

, ''Shining White'', won the Heathcote Award, the McKnight Artist Fellowship and the Barry Morrow Fellowship. * He is a

PEN Center USA PEN Center USA was a branch of PEN International, a literary and human rights organization. It was one of two PEN International Centers in the United States, the other being PEN America in New York City. On March 1, 2018, PEN Center USA unified ...

Literary Awards finalist in screenwriting for '' House of Sand and Fog''. * He is an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellow for his project Hubble.

References

* * *

External links

*
Blog ''Neorenaissance''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Otto, Shawn Lawrence Living people American male screenwriters American political consultants Mensans People from Washington County, Minnesota Spouses of Minnesota politicians American male novelists Filmmakers from Minnesota 1961 births 21st-century American novelists Screenwriters from Minnesota 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American male writers