Neal Town Stephenson, born October 31, 1959, is a renowned American writer celebrated for his works of speculative fiction. His writing spans genres such as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, and baroque.

Stephenson's novels delve into themes of mathematics, cryptography, linguistics, philosophy, currency, and the history of science. In addition to novels, he has authored nonfiction articles about technology for publications like Wired.

He has co-authored novels with his uncle, George Jewsbury, under the pseudonym Stephen Bury. Professionally, Stephenson has served as an advisor for Blue Origin, a spaceflight company founded by Jeff Bezos, and co-founded the Subutai Corporation. From 2014 to 2020, he was the Chief Futurist at Magic Leap.