Fran Wilde (author)
Fran Wilde is an American science fiction and fantasy writer and blogger. Her debut novel, Updraft, was nominated for the 2016 Nebula Award, and won the 2016 Andre Norton Award and the 2016 Compton Crook Award. Her debut middle grade novel, Riverland, won the 2019 Andre Norton Award, was named an NPR Best Book of 2019 and was a Lodestar Finalist. Wilde is the first person to win two Andre Norton Awards for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction. Her short fiction has appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, Nature, Tor.com, Uncanny, and elsewhere. Her fiction explores themes of social class, disability, disruptive technology, and empowerment against a backdrop of engineering and artisan culture.
Early life
Wilde was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1972. She attended the University of Virginia, earning a BA in English with honors in 1994. She then went on to earn a MFA in poetry from Warren Wilson College in 1996 and a master's degree in Information architecture and Interaction design from the University of Baltimore in 2001.Career
Prior to publishing, Wilde worked as a sailing instructor, a jeweler's assistant, a teacher and professor, and a web and game developer.Her first published novel grew from a short story she developed for the 2011 Viable Paradise writing workshop. She has published a number of short stories and completed several novels. She writes for the blog GeekMom and runs the blog and podcast Cooking the Books. She attended Taos Toolbox in 2012 and served as an Endeavor Award judge in 2015, and a Norton Jury Member in 2016.
Wilde is the Director of the Genre Fiction MFA Concentration at Western Colorado University.
Her debut novel, Updraft, was the first novel to be simultaneously nominated for a Nebula and Norton. Her work has been a finalist for six Nebula Awards, three Hugo Awards, two Locus Awards, a World Fantasy Award, and a Lodestar.
Wilde is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
Personal life
Wilde lives and works in Philadelphia, PA with her family and pet plankton.Novels
;Novels| Series | Title | Year | First published | Reprinted/collected | Awards & Honors |
| Riverland | 2019 | Abrams / Amulet | Finalist: 2020 Andre Norton / Nebula; 2019 NPR Best Book, Starred Reviews from Booklist and Shelf Awareness | ||
| The Bone Universe | Updraft | 2015 | Tor Books | Droemer Knaur | Winner: Andre Norton Award / Nebula for Best Young Adult Novel, Compton Crook Award for Best Debut Novel, Finalist: Nebula for Best Novel |
| The Bone Universe | Cloudbound | 2016 | Tor Books | 2017 Locus Recommended Reading List | |
| The Bone Universe | Horizon | 2017 | Tor Books | 2018 Locus Finalist |
Short fiction
;Short Stories| Title | Year | First published | Reprinted/collected | Awards & Honors | |
| The Gem Universe | The Jewel and Her Lapidary | 2016 | Tor.com | 2017 Locus Award Finalist; An LA Public Library Best Book of 2016; 2016 Nebula Nominee; 2016 Hugo Nominee for Best Novelette. | |
| The Gem Universe | The Fire Opal Mechanism | 2019 | Tor.com | 2020 Locus Recommended | |
| The Gem Universe | The Book of Gems | TBA | Tor.com | ||
| "A Catalog of Storms" | 2019 | Uncanny | 2020 Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, Strahan, Jonathan, ed.; 2020 Best Dark Fiction and Fantasy, Guran, Paula, ed. | 2020 Nebula Award Finalist, Best Short Story | |
| "Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand" | 2017 | Uncanny | Winner: 2018 Eugie Foster Award; 2018 Hugo Finalist, 2018 Nebula Finalist, 2018 World Fantasy Award Finalist | ||
| Only Their Shining Beauty Was Left | 2016 | "" | 2016 Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Shimmer, 2016. | 2017 WSFA Small Press Award Finalist | |
| How to Walk through Historic Graveyards in the Digital Age | 2015 | Asimov's Science Fiction | |||
| Like a Wasp to the Tongue | 2014 |
- "The Witch Who Came In From the Cold #2," Serial Box
- "Clearly Lettered in a Mostly Steady Hand," published in Uncanny
- "Bent the Wing, Dark the Cloud," published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Firkin Press, 2015.
- "The Ghost Tide Chantey"
- "You are Two Point Three Meters from Your Destination," published in Uncanny
- "How to Walk through Historic Graveyards in the Digital Age," published in Asimov's Science Fiction
- "Welcome Briefing at the Obayashi-Ragan Youth Hostel" published in Abyss and Apex
- "Nine Dishes on the Cusp of Love," published in Daily Science Fiction
- "The Topaz Marquise," published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Issue 152. Set in the Gem universe.
- "A Moment of Gravity, Circumscribed," published in Impossible Futures Anthology
- "Without," published in Nature Magazine
Non-fiction
- "Domestic violence and teaching my daughter to always rescue herself first," Washington Post
- "We Will See You Now," Uncanny
- "Monsters and Magic can help kids through tough times. Here's how." Washington Post
- "Why are all the moms gone? A parent/writer tries to find herself in children's literature," Washington Post
- "Mom and daughter on reading together," Washington Post