Stand on zanzibar is a dystopian new wave science fiction novel written by john brunner and first published in 1968 the book won a hugo award for best novel at the 27th world science fiction convention in 1969 as well as the 1969 bsfa award and the 1973 prix tour apollo award . Stand on zanzibar by john brunner is an amazing book first of all the title comes from the idea of putting all the people on the planet in one place a nineteenth century commentator speculated that if everyone were to stand and have maybe a couple feet square around him or her then everyone could stand together on the isle of wight. Stand on zanzibar winner of the 1969 hugo award for best science fiction novel and the british science fiction association award the same year is regarded as his greatest achievement bruce sterling is an american science fiction writer born in brownsville texas on april 14 1954 his first published fiction appeared in the late 1970s but he came to real prominence in the early 1980s as one of several writers associated with the cyberpunk tendency and as that movements chief . The title stand on zanzibar is an allusion to this in the early twentieth century it was calculated that every single member of the worlds population could fit shoulder to shoulder on the isle of wight but given the population growth since then brunner estimated that a bigger island like zanzibar in the indian ocean would be required . Constantly panning from a few individuals and their stories to the chatter of the media and sudden chunks of crucial text stand on zanzibar was a ground breaking novel in which brunner broke wide open the stylistic and narrative conventions of sf and set the agenda for the next decades packed with memorable characters the computer shalmaneser the incestuous racist clodard family presidents and newscasters and sudden flashes of insight from rebel sociologist chad mulligan