Graham Nelson

Graham Nelson

Graham A. Nelson (born 1968) is a British mathematician and poet and the creator of the Inform design system for creating interactive fiction (IF) games. He has also authored several IF games, including the acclaimed Curses (1993) and Jigsaw (1995), using the experience of writing Curses in particular to expand the range of verbs that Inform is capable of understanding. He has been described by The New York Times as "ornately literate."

Nelson is the author of the Inform Designer's Manual, which includes one of the first published works of interactive fiction theory, an essay titled "The Craft of Adventure". He has also written several important essays on interactive fiction in the field. He is one of a very small number of individuals (such as Andrew Plotkin) who are celebrated both for their creative and their technical contributions to the homebrew IF scene.

Nelson studied at Selwyn College, Cambridge and Magdalen College, Oxford, before becoming a fellow in pure mathematics at St Anne's College, Oxford. He co-edited Oxford Poetry and in 1997 received an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors for his poetry. As of 2004 he was managing editor of Legenda, the imprint of the Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA).