Annalee Newitz (born May 7, 1969) is an American

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

, and

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

of both fiction and nonfiction. From 1999 to 2008, Newitz wrote a syndicated weekly column called ''Techsploitation'', and from 2000 to 2004 was the culture editor of the '' San Francisco Bay Guardian''. In 2004, Newitz became a policy analyst at the

Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an American international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1990 to promote Internet civil liberties. It provides funds for legal defense in court, ...

. With Charlie Jane Anders, they also co-founded ''Other'' magazine, a periodical that ran from 2002 to 2007. From 2008 to 2015, Newitz was editor-in-chief of

Gawker ''Gawker'' was an American blog founded by Nick Denton and Elizabeth Spiers that was based in New York City and focused on celebrities and the media industry. According to SimilarWeb, the site had over 23 million visits per month in 2015. Fo ...

-owned media venture ''

io9 ''io9'' is a sub-blog of the technology blog ''Gizmodo'' that focuses on science fiction and fantasy pop culture, with former focuses on science, technology and futurism. It was created as a standalone blog in 2008 by editor Annalee Newitz under ...

'', and subsequently its direct descendant ''

Gizmodo ''Gizmodo'' () is a design, technology, science, and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton. ''Gizmodo'' also includes the sub-blogs ''io9'' and ''Earther'', which focus on pop ...

'', Gawker's design and technology blog. They have written for the periodicals ''

Popular Science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

'', ''

Film Quarterly ''Film Quarterly'' (FQ), published by University of California Press, is a journal devoted to the study of film, television, and visual media. When FQ was launched in 1945 (then called ''Hollywood Quarterly''), it was considered "the first serious ...

'' and ''

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

''. As of 2019, Newitz is a contributing opinion writer at ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''.

Early life

Newitz was born in 1969, and grew up in

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, planned city in central Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was named in 1888 for the landowner James Irvine. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the ...

, graduating from Irvine High School, and in 1987 moved to

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

. In 1996, Newitz started doing freelance writing, and in 1998 completed a Ph.D. in English and American Studies from

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

, with a dissertation on images of monsters, psychopaths, and capitalism in twentieth century American popular culture, the content of which later appeared in book form from Duke University Press. Around 1999, Newitz co-founded the Post-World War II American Literature and Culture Database in an attempt to chronicle modern literature and popular culture.

Career

Newitz became a full-time writer and journalist in 1999 with an invitation to write a weekly column for the ''

Metro Silicon Valley ''Metro'', also known as ''Metro Silicon Valley'', is a free weekly newspaper published by the San Jose, California-based Weeklys media group for four decades, a period during which its readership area became known as Silicon Valley. Metro was ...

'', a column which then ran in various venues for nine years. Then they served as the culture editor at the '' San Francisco Bay Guardian'' from 2000 to 2004. Newitz was awarded a Knight Science Journalism

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

ship for 2002 to 2003, supporting them as a research fellow at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

. From 2004 to 2005 Newitz was a policy analyst for the

, and from 2007 to 2009 was on the board of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders, a

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) and chosen by its members. The award is administered by th ...

-winning author and commentator, co-founded ''Other'' magazine. In 2008, Gawker media asked Newitz to start a blog about science and science fiction, dubbed

, for which Newitz served as editor-in-chief from its founding until 2015 when it merged with ''

,'' another Gawker media design and technology blog property; Newitz then took on the same leadership of the new venture. In November 2015, Newitz left Gawker to join ''Ars Technica'', where Newitz has been employed as tech culture editor since December 2015. Newitz is a contributing opinion writer at ''The New York Times''. Newitz's first novel, ''

Autonomous In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy is the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision. Autonomous organizations or institutions are independent or self-governing. Autonomy can also be defi ...

'', was published in 2017. ''Autonomous'' won the

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary Foundation, Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literatur ...

and was nominated for the

Nebula Award The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA), a nonprofit association of pr ...

and

Locus Award The Locus Awards are an annual set of literary awards voted on by readers of the science fiction and fantasy magazine '' Locus'', a monthly magazine based in Oakland, California. The awards are presented at an annual banquet. Originally a poll ...

in 2018 for best novel. Newitz's second novel, '' The Future of Another Timeline'', published in 2019, was described on their website as: " ..about

time travel Time travel is the hypothetical activity of traveling into the past or future. Time travel is a concept in philosophy and fiction, particularly science fiction. In fiction, time travel is typically achieved through the use of a device known a ...

and what it would be like to meet yourself as a teenager and have a really, really intense conversation with her about how fucked up your high school friends are." The book was received with acclaim by critics, and was a nominee for the

Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel The Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel is one of the annual Locus Awards presented by the science fiction and fantasy magazine Locus (magazine), ''Locus''. Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar ...

. Their 2014 non-fiction science book ''Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction'' was a finalist for the ''L.A. Times'' Book Prize. They also wrote ''Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age'', published in 2021. They have also written for publications including ''

'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

'', ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', '' Smithsonian'', and more. They have published short stories in '' Lightspeed'', '' Shimmer Magazine'', ''Apex'', and ''Technology Review's Twelve Tomorrows''. In March 2018, with their partner and co-host Charlie Jane Anders, Newitz launched the

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

''Our Opinions Are Correct'', which "explor sthe meaning of science fiction, and how it's relevant to real-life science and society." The podcast won the Hugo Award for Best Fancast in 2019.

Personal life

Newitz is the child of two English teachers. Their mother, Cynthia, worked at a high school, and their father, Marty, at a

community college A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open enr ...

. Since 2000, Newitz has been in a relationship with Charlie Jane Anders. The two began the podcast ''Our Opinions Are Correct'' in March 2018. Newitz has used

singular they Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'', and ''themselves'' (also ''themself'' and ''theirself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun derived from plural they. It typically oc ...

pronouns In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun ( glossed ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not con ...

since 2019.

Venues

* Co-founder, ''

Bad Subjects ''Bad Subjects'' (more formally ''Bad Subjects: Political Education For Everyday Life'' and sometimes ''The Bad Subjects Collective'') was a research collaborative that operated generally out of California as part of the open access electronic pub ...

'', 1992 * Co-founder, ''other'' (magazine), 2002 * Co-founder, Editor in chief, io9.com,

Gawker Media Gawker Media LLC (formerly Blogwire, Inc. and Gawker Media, Inc.) was an American internet media company and Link farm#Blog network, blog network. It was founded by Nick Denton in October 2003 as Blogwire, and was based in New York City. Incorpor ...

's science and science fiction blog * Editor in chief, ''

'', Gawker Media's technology blog * Tech culture editor, ''Ars Technica''

Awards and nominations

Bibliography

Newitz's work has been published in ''

'', ''

,'' Salon.com, ''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a popular science magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organ ...

,'' ''

'', the '' San Francisco Bay Guardian'', and at ''

AlterNet AlterNet is a left-leaning news website based in the United States. It was launched by the Independent Media Institute. In 2018, the website was acquired by owners of '' Raw Story''. Coverage Coverage is divided into several special sections re ...

''. In addition to these print and online periodicals, they have published the following short stories and books:

Novels

* ''

'' (

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles. History Tor was founded by Tom Doherty, ...

, September 2017) * '' The Future of Another Timeline'' (Tor Books, 2019) * '' The Terraformers'' (Tor Books, 2023)

Short stories

"The Great Oxygen Race"
''Hilobrow'' magazine, 2010

'' Flurb'' magazine, 2010
"Twilight of the Eco-Terrorist"
''Apex Magazine'', 2011
"Unclaimed"
''Shimmer Magazine'', issue 18, 2014
"Drones Don't Kill People"
''Lightspeed Magazine'', issue 54, 2014
"All Natural Organic Microbes"
''MIT's Twelve Tomorrows'', 2016
"Birth of the Ant Rights Movement"
''Ars Technica UK'', 2016
"The Blue Fairy's Manifesto"
''Robots vs. Fairies'', ed. by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe, 2018
"When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis"
Slate, 2018.

Non-fiction

* Co-edited, with Matt Wray * * * Co-edited with Charlie Anders. * * Edited by Kathryn Cramer and Ed Finn. * * Edited by Nalo Hopkinson. * * *

References

External links

Official site

Annalee Newitz
Gettingit.com authors
Annalee Newitz
at

columnists
Annalee Newitz
at the

Internet Speculative Fiction Database The Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB) is a database of bibliographic information on genres considered speculative fiction, including science fiction and related genres such as fantasy, alternate history, and horror fiction. The ISFDB ...

Annalee Newitz, "She's Such A Geek" Interview
at 23C3
Annalee Newitz and Charlie Anders read from "She's Such A Geek"
Authors@Google {{DEFAULTSORT:Newitz, Annalee 1969 births Living people American technology writers American bloggers People from Irvine, California American science writers Journalists from California Writers from San Francisco 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists Lambda Literary Award winners Sidewise Award winners American LGBTQ novelists 21st-century American LGBTQ people

Early life

Career

Personal life

Venues

Awards and nominations

Bibliography

Novels

Short stories

Non-fiction

References

Further reading

External links