Hao Han (8), Shaolin kung fu student and child actor. Shaolin Monastery, Henan. (Photo by Mathias Braschler and Monika Fischer)

A woman plays billiards during a local championship at a sports hall in Yemen's capital Sanaa on December 16, 2019. (Photo by Mohammed Huwais/AFP Photo)

French President Emmanuel Macron performs at the Shrine Africa in Lagos on July 3, 2018. French President Emmanuel Macron has arrived in Abuja for a meeting with his Nigerian counterpart Muhammadu Buhari, in his latest attempt to forge closer ties with English- speaking Africa. (Photo by Ludovic Marin/AFP Photo)

An artist is seen preparing during the Kramatorsk tent show in Kramatorsk, Ukraine on August 29, 2021. Traditional tent shows are still very popular in the twenty first century among Ukrainian people of all ages. (Photo by Andriy Andriyenko/SOPA Images/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A vendor gestures as he arranges watermelons for sale at a market in Colombo on February 17, 2025. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

Four orphan barn owl chicks were found weak from hunger and thirst after their mother's death, are under treatment at the Dicle Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center before being released back into their natural habitat on September 23, 2025, in Diyarbakir, Turkiye. (Photo by Bestami Bodruk/Anadolu via Getty Images)

William Gibson is not one of the authors that spits out novels like a machine – in his long and fruitful career he has only published 11 novels andof short stories and articles in the tens each. Still his impact on modern literature was huge – the “noir prophet” of the cyberpunk subgenre (that he was one of the pioneers of) has predicted the rise of reality television, virtual reality, video games and the internet. He is a Hugo and Nebula award winning science fiction writer, with a special eye for what the future might bring.

Former Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin performs a flip while throwing the ceremonial first pitch during a baseball game between the Los Angeles Angels and the Tampa Bay Rays, Friday, July 14, 2017, in Anaheim, Calif. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)