An American science-fiction author, editor, and teacher, Terry Carr was born in Grants Pass, Oregon, in 1937. After completing his secondary schooling at the City College of San Francisco, Carr studied at the University of California, Berkeley, between 1954 and 1959. An avid fan of science fiction since 1949, he initially published a number of fanzines before eventually moving into commercial publishing. During his career as an author and editor, Carr was nominated for five Best Fanzine Hugo Awards (1959-1961, 1967-1968), winning in 1959, and three Best Fan Writer Hugos (1971-1973), winning in 1973. He was also Fan Guest of Honor at ConFederation in 1986.
Although Carr published some fiction in the early 1960s, he is largely remembered for his editing career. He first worked at Ace Books (q.v.), establishing the Ace Science Fiction Specials series. He eventually left Ace to work freelance. Among his career achievements were editing an original story anthology series called Universe and a popular series of The Best Science Fiction of the Year anthologies (1972-1987). He also edited numerous one-off anthologies. He was nominated for the Hugo Awards Best Editor section thirteen times (1973-1975, 1977-79, 1981-87), winning twice (1985 and 1987). His win in 1985 was the first time a freelance editor had won.
In addition to his editing work, Carr taught at the Clarion Workshop at Michigan State University in the late 1970s. His papers and his large collection of fanzines have become part of the Eaton Collection of Science Fiction, held at the University of California, Riverside.
