Debbie Urbanski
Debbie Urbanski | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 23, 1976 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Education | Carleton College (BA) Syracuse University (MFA) |
| Genres | Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Climate Fiction, Essays |
| Website | |
| https://debbieurbanski.com | |
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Debbie Urbanski (born July 23, 1976) is an American author best known for her speculative prose and fantastical realism.[1] Her debut novel After World (Simon & Schuster, 2023) explores human extinction and climate change from the perspective of an artificial intelligence.[2] Her work has been featured in several anthologies including The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy,[3] The Best American Experimental Writing,[4] and The Year's Greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy.[5] Her debut collection of short stories, Portalmania, was published in May 2025 by Simon & Schuster.[6]
Early life
Urbanski grew up in Chicago, Illinois and Orland Park, Illinois. She is a graduate of Carleton College[7] and the Creative Writing M.F.A. Program of Syracuse University.[8]
Career
Early in her career, Urbanski wrote poetry[9] but eventually transitioned to short stories and essays. For several years she wrote for children and teens,[10] publishing numerous stories in Highlights[11] as well as Cricket Media's Spider and Cicada magazines.[12] Working with editor Jestine Ware, Urbanski wrote what became Spider's first LGBTQIA+ story[13] about a hiking trip taken by a family with two moms.[14] She began publishing genre work in 2012 with the short story "Wonder" in Interzone and she is now listed in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.[15]
In 2019 she was awarded a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award for fiction and nonfiction.[16] This national award was given to emerging women writers of exceptional promise for their special contributions to our culture.[17]
Selected works
After World
In Urbanski's debut novel After World (Simon & Schuster, 2023), humans have gone extinct to save the planet, and an artificial intelligence is tasked with telling the story of what happened to the last human on Earth. The story takes place in Syracuse, New York (where Urbanski lives now with her family) and in the New York State Forests south of Syracuse.[18] After World was named a best book of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle,[19] Strange Horizons,[20] Los Angeles Times,[21] and Booklist.[22] was a New York Public Library Book of the Day;[23] and was a Climate Reality Project book club pick.[24] After World won the 2025 Association for the Study of Literature and Environment Creative Writing Book Award, with the judges commenting: "The novel’s formal inventiveness serves its thematic concerns perfectly, creating a work that is simultaneously a love letter to the natural world, a requiem for human civilization, and a plea for the unique value of human life."[25]
Portalmania
The short stories in Portalmania, Urbanski's 2025 debut collection, span across sci-fi, fantasy, horror and realism and touch upon themes of motherhood, relationships, asexuality, and love.[6] Portalmania received positive reviews in The Wall Street Journal,[26] Publishers Weekly,[27] Chicago Review of Books,[28] and The Massachusetts Review.[29] Locus Magazine wrote: "Every story in Portalmania is distinctive, vital, and sophisticated; the whole is an almost perfectly constructed debut collection that brings into sharp focus an impressively cohesive project."[30]
References
- ↑ "Announcing the 2019 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Awards Winners!". RJF. August 27, 2019.
- ↑ After World. December 5, 2023. ISBN 978-1-6680-2345-7 – via www.simonandschuster.com. Search this book on
- ↑ "Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy (ebook)". Amazon. August 27, 2019.
- ↑ Abramson, Seth; Damiani, Jesse (November 10, 2020). The Best American Experimental Writing. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 978-0819579584. Search this book on
- ↑ Horton, Rich (August 10, 2021). The Year's Greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy. Prime Books. ISBN 978-1607015383. Search this book on
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Portalmania. May 13, 2025. ISBN 978-1-6680-6111-4 – via www.simonandschuster.com. Search this book on
- ↑ "Huntington Poetry Prize - Carleton College". www.carleton.edu. June 12, 2019.
- ↑ "Debbie Urbanski". College of Arts & Sciences at Syracuse University.
- ↑ "Syracuse-based author explores AI, climate change, apocalypse in debut novel". WAER. April 2, 2024.
- ↑ Ware, Jestine (November 16, 2018). "Ask an Author: Debbie Urbanski". Jestine Ware Editor.
- ↑ "Storytime: Collection of Mystery and Adventure Stories (Highlights)". Amazon. October 26, 2023.
- ↑ https://info.cricketmedia.com/rs/357-NUK-896/images/VeryLongHike.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ↑ Ware, Jestine (June 2, 2018). "One Queer Magazine Editor". Jestine Ware Editor.
- ↑ "Cricket Media Expands LGBTQAI+ Content and Community for Kids, Teens". Mombian. April 5, 2018.
- ↑ "SFE: Urbanski, Debbie".
- ↑ "Winner, Debbie Urbanski". RJF.
- ↑ "History | the Rona Jaffe Foundation".
- ↑ "New Sci-Fi Novel 'After World' Set in Apocalyptic Syracuse and Upstate New York". Syracuse.com. December 22, 2023.
- ↑ "Favorite Fiction and Nonfiction Books of 2023". San Francisco Chronicle. December 18, 2023.
- ↑ "2024 In Review: Part Three". Strange Horizons. January 10, 2025.
- ↑ "The Best Tech Books of 2023". Los Angeles Times. December 22, 2023.
- ↑ "Top 10 SF, Fantasy, and Horror Debuts 2024". Booklist Online. January 10, 2024.
- ↑ https://x.com/nypl/status/1894719104692449571
- ↑ "Join the Climate Reality Book Club for a Chat with Author Debbie Urbanski". LinkedIn. December 15, 2023.
- ↑ "ASLE » 2025 ASLE Book Award Winners".
- ↑ "Fiction: 'Pan' by Michael Clune".
- ↑ "Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski".
- ↑ "Searching and Finding in "Sympathy for Wild Girls" and "Portalmania"". 27 May 2025.
- ↑ "Where Does It Lead? A Review of Debbie Urbanski's Portalmania". 3 June 2025.
- ↑ "Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski: Review by Niall Harrison". 27 June 2025.
