William Ford Gibson is a renowned American-Canadian writer, widely credited as the "noir prophet" of the cyberpunk subgenre in science fiction. He coined the term "cyberspace" in his short story "Burning Chrome" and later popularized it through his debut novel, Neuromancer (1984). Gibson's imaginative works envisaged notable technological advances and societal changes long before the widespread use of the Internet in the 1990s. His visionary ideas also foresaw the rise of reality television and contributed significantly to the development of virtual environments such as video games and the Web.

His career began in the late 1970s, featuring noir, near-future stories that explored the transformative effects of technology, cybernetics, and computer networks on human society, a combination he described as "lowlife and high tech." Gibson's early works played a pivotal role in "renovating" science fiction literature during the 1980s. Following his success with Neuromancer, he expanded the narrative with Count Zero (1986) and Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988), completing the dystopic Sprawl trilogy.

Collaborating with Bruce Sterling, Gibson co-authored the alternate history novel The Difference Engine (1990), a seminal piece in the steampunk science fiction subgenre. In the 1990s, he wrote the Bridge trilogy, delving into the sociological impacts of near-future urban landscapes, postindustrial society, and late capitalism.

Post-9/11, Gibson released a series of realist novels—Pattern Recognition (2003), Spook Country (2007), and Zero History (2010)—set in contemporary settings, marking his debut on mainstream bestseller lists. His later novels, The Peripheral (2014) and Agency (2020), revisit explicit science fiction themes involving technology.

Throughout his career, Gibson has penned more than 20 short stories and 12 critically acclaimed novels, contributed to major publications, and collaborated extensively with performance artists, filmmakers, and musicians. His influence spans numerous fields including academia, design, film, literature, music, cyberculture, and technology.