Carmen Maria Machado (born July 3, 1986) is an American

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

author, essayist, and critic best known for ''

Her Body and Other Parties Her is the objective and possessive form of the English-language feminine pronoun she. Her, HER or H.E.R. may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Music Performers * H.E.R. (born 1997), American singer * HIM (Finnish band), once kno ...

'', a 2017 short story collection, and her memoir '' In the Dream House'', which was published in 2019 and won the 2021

Folio Prize The Writers' Prize, previously known as the Rathbones Folio Prize, the Folio Prize and The Literature Prize, is a literary award that was sponsored by the London-based publisher The Folio Society for its first two years, 2014–2015. Starting ...

. Machado is frequently published in ''

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 ...

'', ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story's supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make ...

'', '' Lightspeed'', and other publications. She has been a finalist for the

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

and the

Nebula Award for Best Novelette The Nebula Award for Best Novelette is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) to a science fiction or fantasy novelette. A work of fiction is defined by the organization as a novelette if it is between 7,5 ...

. Her stories have been reprinted in ''Year's Best Weird Fiction'', '' Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy, Best Horror of the Year'', ''The New Voices of Fantasy'', and ''Best Women's Erotica''.

Early life

Carmen Maria Machado was born July 3, 1986, in

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in eastern Pennsylvania, United States. The county seat of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, it is the List o ...

.The metafictional, liminal, lyrical ways of writer Carmen Maria Machado
by Sabrina Vourvoulias, ''AL DÍA News'', December 3, 2015. Machado's paternal grandfather left Santa Clara,

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, for the United States when he was 18, gaining U.S. citizenship after serving in the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. He then moved to D.C. and worked at the

United States Patent Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Ale ...

, where he met Machado's grandmother, who came over to the U.S. from

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Machado grew up in a very religious

United Methodist The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...

household; this upbringing, she says, led to a sense of guilt about her

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

sexuality for several years.

Education

She attended Parkland High School in South Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania, and then

American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, graduating in 2008. She earned an MFA from the

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a graduate-level creative writing program. At 89 years, it is the oldest writing program offering a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in the United States. Its acceptance rate is between 2 ...

and received fellowships and residencies from the Michener-Copernicus Foundation, the Elizabeth George Foundation, the CINTAS Foundation, the Speculative Literature Foundation, the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

Yaddo Yaddo is an artists' community located on a estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.". On March ...

, Hedgebrook, and the Millay Colony for the Arts. Machado also attended the

Clarion Workshop The Clarion Workshop is an American six-week workshop for aspiring science fiction and fantasy writers. Originally an outgrowth of Damon Knight's and Kate Wilhelm's Milford Writer's Workshop, Milford Writer's Conference, held at their home in Milfo ...

, where she studied under author

Ted Chiang Ted Chiang (; pinyin: ''Jiāng Fēngnán''; born 1967) is an American science fiction writer. His work has won four Nebula Award, Nebula awards, four Hugo Award, Hugo awards, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and six Locus Award, ...

and others.Her Body and Other Parties: An Interview with Carmen Maria Machado
by Amandine Faucheux, ''NDR Magazine'', May 2015.

Career

Machado worked in the

for two years after receiving her MFA there. After a rejection from

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational List of coffeehouse chains, chain of coffeehouses and Starbucks Reserve, roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1971 by Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gor ...

in 2013, she took up work at Lush, a soap store, while she taught writing as an adjunct professor at

Rosemont College Rosemont College is a private Catholic university in Rosemont, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1921 as a women's college by the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus, the undergraduate program opened to male students beginning in fall 2009. ...

and other schools in the area. She also did freelance writing while she lived in Pennsylvania. Machado's short stories, essays, and criticism have been published in a number of magazines including ''

'', ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published new works by Jack Kerouac, ...

'', '' Tin House'', '' Lightspeed'', ''

Guernica Guernica (, ), officially Gernika () in Basque, is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the municipality of Gernika-Lumo ...

'', ''

AGNI Agni ( ) is the Deva (Hinduism), Hindu god of fire. As the Guardians of the directions#Aṣṭa-Dikpāla ("Guardians of Eight Directions"), guardian deity of the southeast direction, he is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu temples. ...

'',

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

, ''Gulf Coast'', ''

Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 201 ...

'', ''

Strange Horizons ''Strange Horizons'' is an online magazine, online speculative fiction magazine. It also features speculative poetry and non-fiction in every issue, including reviews, essays, interviews, and roundtables. History and profile It was launched in S ...

'', and other publications. Her stories have also been reprinted in anthologies such as ''Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2017, Year's Best Weird Fiction, Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy, The Best Horror of the Year,'' and ''Best Women's Erotica''. Machado's short story "Horror Story," originally published in ''

'' in 2015, details a lesbian couple's difficulty coping with a haunting in their new house. Machado's fiction has been called "strange and seductive", and it has been said that her "work doesn't just ''have'' form, it ''takes'' form." Her fiction has been a finalist for the

, the

Shirley Jackson Award The Shirley Jackson Awards are literary awards named after Shirley Jackson in recognition of her legacy in writing. These awards for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror and dark fantasy are presented at Rea ...

, the Franz Kafka Award in Magic Realism, the '' storySouth'' Million Writers Award, and the Calvino Prize from the Creative Writing Program at the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...

. An analysis by ''

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 ...

'' indicated that if not for the

Sad Puppies Sad Puppies was an unsuccessful right-wing anti-diversity voting campaign run from 2013 to 2017 and intended to influence the outcome of the annual Hugo Awards, the longest-running prize (since 1953) for science fiction or fantasy works. It wa ...

ballot manipulation campaign, Machado would have been a finalist for the 2015

John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer The ''Astounding'' Award for Best New Writer (formerly the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer) is given annually to the best new writer whose first professional work of science fiction or fantasy was published within the two previous ...

. In 2018, she won the

Bard In Celtic cultures, a bard is an oral repository and professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's a ...

Fiction Prize. Her horror-inspired short story collection, ''Her Body and Other Parties'', was published by

Graywolf Press Graywolf Press is an independent, non-profit publisher located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Graywolf Press publishes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Graywolf Press collaborates with organizations such as the College of Saint Benedict, the Mel ...

in 2017. It was a 2017 finalist for the

National Book Award for Fiction The National Book Award for Fiction is one of five annual National Book Awards, which recognize outstanding literary work by United States citizens. Since 1987, the awards have been administered and presented by the National Book Foundation, bu ...

, won the 2017

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".John Leonard Prize The John Leonard Prize for Best First Book, established in 2013, is an annual literary award presented by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) for authors' first books in any genre. Unlike other NBCC awards, recipients are selected by members, ...

, and was shortlisted for the 2018

Dylan Thomas Prize The Dylan Thomas Prize is a leading prize for young writers presented annually. The prize, named in honour of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas, brings international prestige and a remuneration of £30,000 (~$46,000). It is open to published w ...

. The collection has been optioned by FX and a television show is in development by Gina Welch. As of 2018, she is the Writer in Residence at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. Machado is a 2019 recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship. She was a Visiting associate professor at the Iowa Writers' Workshop in Spring 2021. Machado was guest editor of ''The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019'' edition. Her sci-fi short stories have appeared in volumes including ''Latinx Rising: An Anthology of Latinx Science Fiction and Fantasy'', edited by Matthew David Goodwin, with an introduction by

Frederick Luis Aldama Frederick Luis Aldama is an American author, editor, and academic. He is the Jacob & Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and founder and director of the Latinx Pop Lab at the University of Texas, Austin. At UT Austin is also affiliate ...

. Her essay "Both Ways", about the 2009 film ''

Jennifer's Body ''Jennifer's Body'' is a 2009 American comedy horror film directed by Karyn Kusama and written by Diablo Cody. Starring Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, J. K. Simmons, Amy Sedaris, and Adam Brody, the film follows Jennifer Chec ...

'', is part of the anthology '' It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror'', published in October 2022. In 2022, it was announced that a new short story collection would be published by Machado at

Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Blanche Knopf and Alfred A. Knopf Sr. in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers ...

, titled ''A Brief and Fearful Star''.

Personal life

Machado is bisexual. Until 2022, she lived in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

with her then-wife Val Howlett. The two married in 2017 and maintained a non-monogamous relationship, living with their partner Marne Litfin in a throuple. Howlett described the relationships in March 2022, saying: "It's just really nice to not build your whole life around one single person. Everything from... the division of labor to how we have conflict to sharing joyful things. I just really love our lives." Machado and Howlett separated later that year. Machado since lives in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Awards and honors

Machado was awarded the Richard Yates Short Story Prize in 2011 and was named Writer on the Rise by ''Philadelphia'' in their Best of Philly awards list.

Published Works

Memoir

* '' In the Dream House'' (

, 2019)

Collections

* ''

'' (

, 2017)

Short stories

* "Difficult at Parties" ('' Unstuck,'' Issue 2, 2012)* *
Inventory
(''

'', 2013)* *
Vacation
(''Wigleaf'', 2013) * " Especially Heinous: 272 Views of Law & Order SVU" (''The American Reader'', Volume 1, 2013)* *
Miss Laura's School for Esquire Men
('' Tin House'', 2013) * "We Were Never Alone in Space" (''Shimmer,'' Issue 17, 2013) * "The Hungry Earth" (''Mothership: Tales from Afrofuturism and Beyond,'' Rosarium Publishing, 2013) *
Observations About Eggs from the Man Sitting Next to Me on a Flight from Chicago, Illinois to Cedar Rapids, Iowa
('' Lightspeed Magazine,'' Issue 47, 2014) *
Help Me Follow My Sister into the Land of the Dead
(''Help Fund My Robot Army!!! and Other Improbable Crowdfunding Projects'',

John Joseph Adams John Joseph Adams (born July 31, 1976) is an American science fiction and fantasy editor, critic, and publisher. Career Editor Adams worked as Assistant Editor at ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' from May 2001 to December 2009. In ...

, 2014) * "We Were Never Men" (''The Red Volume: An Anthology of Stories by the Awkward Robots'', The Awkward Robots, 2014) *
The Husband Stitch
(''

'', 2014)''*'' *
Mothers
(''Interfictions'', Issue 4, 2014)''*'' *
Descent
('' Nightmare Magazine,'' Issue 29, 2015) *
I Bury Myself
('' Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet'', No. 33, 2015) *
Horror Story
(''

'', 2015) *
The Old Women Who Were Skinned
(''Fairy Tale Review,'' Issue 12, 2016) *
My Body, Herself
(''

Uncanny Magazine ''Uncanny Magazine'' is an American science fiction magazine, science fiction and Fantasy fiction magazine, fantasy online magazine founded by publishing editors Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas. History First issued in 2014, the pu ...

'', Issue 12, 2016) * "The House at the End of the World" (''Fantastic Stories of the Imagination People of Color,'' Positronic Publishing, 2017) * "Blur" (''Summer Reading,'' Issue 72, 2017) * "Promise Me" (Great Jones Street Originals, 2017) *
Eight Bites
(''Gulf Coast,'' Issue 29.2, 2017)''*'' *
There and Back Again
(''Mixed Up,''

Skyhorse Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. is an American independent book publishing company founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York City, with a satellite office in Brattleboro, Vermont. History The current president and publisher is founder Tony Ly ...

, 2017) * "Mary When You Follow Her" (''VQR'', 2018) *
A Brief and Fearful Star
(''Future Tense'', 2018) *
A Cat, a Bride, a Servant
(''Garage,'' Issue 15, 2018) * "The Resident" (''The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018,''

Mariner Books Mariner Books, originally an imprint of HMH Books, was established in 1997 as a publisher of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry in trade paperback. Mariner is also the publisher of the Harvest backlist, formerly published by Harcourt Brace/Harcou ...

, 2018)* *
Haunt
(''Conjunctions'', 2019) * "The Book of the Dead" (''

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

'', 2019) * "The Things Eric Eats Before He Eats Himself" (''The Mythic Dream,''

Saga Press Gallery Publishing Group is a general interest publisher and a division of Simon & Schuster which houses the imprints Gallery Books, Pocket Books, Scout Press, Gallery 13, and Saga Press. Jen Bergstrom is the Senior Vice President and Publisher. ...

, 2019) * "Relaxation Technique" ('' McSweeney's Quarterly Concern,'' Issue 53, 2019) *
The Lost Performance of the High Priestess of the Temple of Horror
(''

'', 2020) *
Justice
(''The Chronicles of Now'', 2020) * "A Hundred Miles and a Mile" (''When Things Get Dark'',

Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of the British entertainment company Titan Entertainment, which was established as Titan Books in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cine ...

, 2021) * "Bloody Summer" ('' Amazon Original Stories'', 2022) * "Endlings" (''Conjunctions'', 2024) *Also appears in ''

'' (2017)

Comics

* ''The Low, Low Woods'' #1-6 (

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

, 2019–2020) # ''Bottomless'' (2019) # ''Heaven on Earth'' (2020) # ''The Fruiting Body'' (2020) # ''Einstein on the Beach'' (2020) # ''The Witch's Tale'' (2020) # ''Bells to Rest, Lambs to Slaughter'' (2020) ''Collected hardcover edition published 2020''

Poetry

*
Meat Eater No. 5
(''

,'' 2023)

Essays

*
Luxury Shopping from the Other Side of the Register
(''

'', 2013) *
The Afterlife of Pia Farrenkopf
(''

'', 2014) *
O Adjunct! My Adjunct!
(''

,'' 2015) *
A Girl's Guide to Sexual Purity
(''

'', 2015) *
The Moon Over the River Lethe
(''Catapult'', 2016) *
The Morals of the Stories
(''Tiny Donkey'', 2016) *
How I Should Have Known Trump Would Be Elected President
('' HTMLGiant'', 2016) *
The Trash Heap Has Spoken
(''

'', 2017) *
Gaslit Nation
(''

Medium Medium may refer to: Aircraft *Medium bomber, a class of warplane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Medium'' (1921 film), a German silent film * ''The Medium'' (1951 film), a film vers ...

'', 2017) *
Unruly, Adjective
(''

'', 2018) *
The Anxiety That Binds
(''

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 ...

'', 2018) *
Household Object: Taxidermied Alligator Head
(''The Believer'', 2018) * "A Dear and Nothing Else" (''March Sisters: On Life, Death, and Little Women,''

Library of America The Library of America (LOA) is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature. Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LOA has published more than 300 volumes by authors ...

, 2019) *
What Does Pride Mean Now?
(''

'', 2020) * "An Inquiry" (''Horse Girls: Recovering, Aspiring, and Devoted Riders Redefine the Iconic Bond,''

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

, 2021) * "Both Ways" ('' It Came From the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror,''

Feminist Press The Feminist Press at CUNY is an American independent nonprofit literary publisher of the City University of New York, based in New York City. It primarily publishes feminist literature that promotes freedom of expression and social justice. The ...

, 2022) * "The Shot That Made Me Gay" (''The Metrograph'', Issue 1, 2024)

As Editor

* ''PEN America Best Debut Short Stories 2019'' (Catapult, 2019) * ''The Best American Science Fiction And Fantasy 2019'' (

, 2019) * ''BAX 2020: Best American Experimental Writing'' (

Wesleyan University Press Wesleyan University Press is a university press that is part of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. The press is currently directed by Suzanna Tamminen, a published poet and essayist. History and overview Founded (in its present form ...

'','' 2020) * ''Critical Hits: Writers Playing Video Games'' (

, 2023)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Machado, Carmen Maria 1986 births Living people 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American short story writers 21st-century American women writers American science fiction writers American University alumni American weird fiction writers American women short story writers Hispanic and Latino American short story writers Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction winners LGBTQ Hispanic and Latino American people LGBTQ people from Pennsylvania Parkland High School (Pennsylvania) alumni Writers from Allentown, Pennsylvania American bisexual women American bisexual writers Bisexual women writers Bisexual memoirists American queer writers American queer women American memoirists American short story writers American writers of Cuban descent