Fran Wilde (born 1972) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer and blogger. Her

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

, ''

Updraft In meteorology, an updraft (British English: ''up-draught'') is a small-scale air current, current of rising air, often within a cloud. Overview Vertical drafts, known as updrafts or downdrafts, are localized regions of warm or cool air that mov ...

'', was nominated for the 2016

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 won the 2016

Andre Norton Award The Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction (formerly the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy) is an annual award presented by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) to the ...

and the 2016

Compton Crook Award The Compton Crook Award is presented by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS) to the year's best English language debut novel in the science fiction, fantasy, or horror genres, as voted by its members. BSFS confers the award at their annua ...

. Her debut middle grade novel, ''Riverland'', won the 2019 Andre Norton Award, was named an NPR Best Book of 2019 and was a

Lodestar Lodestar is an archaic word for a star that guides, especially the northern pole star. Lodestar may also refer to: Art and entertainment * Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book, an award given annually at the World Science Fiction Conventi ...

Finalist. Wilde is the first person to win two Andre Norton Awards. Her short fiction has appeared in ''

Asimov's Science Fiction ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine edited by Sheila Williams and published by Dell Magazines, which is owned by Penny Press. It was launched as a quarterly by Davis Publications in 1977, after obtaining Isaac ...

'', ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

'',

Tor.com ''Reactor'', formerly ''Tor.com'', is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on specul ...

, ''

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 ...

'', 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 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 ...

, Pennsylvania in 1972. She attended the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

, earning a BA in English with honors in 1994. She then went on to earn a MFA in poetry from

Warren Wilson College Warren Wilson College (WWC) is a private liberal arts college in Swannanoa, North Carolina. It is known for its curriculum that combines academics, work, and service as every student must complete a required course of study, work an on-campus j ...

in 1996 and a master's degree in

information architecture Information architecture (IA) is the structural design of shared information environments; the art and science of organizing and labelling websites, intranets, online communities and software to support usability and findability; and an emerging ...

and

interaction design Interaction design, often abbreviated as IxD, is "the practice of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services." While interaction design has an interest in form (similar to other design fields), its main area of foc ...

from the

University of Baltimore The University of Baltimore (UBalt, UB) is a public university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is part of the University System of Maryland. UBalt consists of four colleges in applied arts and sciences, Robert G. Merrick School of Bu ...

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 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 ...

''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 writer and creator of the podcast called ''Machina'' produced by Realm. The audio drama was a twelve episode series that followed the fictional story of two companies competing to bring artificial intelligence to Mars. Wilde is the Director of the Genre Fiction MFA Concentration at

Western Colorado University Western Colorado University (WCU or Western) is a public university in Gunnison, Colorado. It enrolls approximately 3,000 undergraduate and 450 graduate students, with 25 percent coming from out of state. Western offers more than 100 undergradu ...

. Her

, ''Updraft'', was the first novel to be simultaneously nominated for a

Nebula A nebula (; or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral, or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regions, such as in the Pillars of Creation in ...

and

. 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 The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, doing business as Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association and commonly known as SFWA ( or ) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. Whi ...

Personal life

Wilde lives and works in Philadelphia, PA with her family.

Bibliography

Novels

* * * * * Winner: 2020

. Nominee: 2020

Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book The Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book is an award given annually to a book published for young adult readers in the field of science fiction or fantasy. The name of the award was chosen because a lodestar is "a star that guides or leads, ...

. 2019 NPR Best Book. Starred Reviews from Booklist and Shelf Awareness. *

''The Bone Universe'' Series

# Winner: 2016

and

for Best Debut Novel. Finalist: 2016

Nebula Award for Best Novel The Nebula Award for Best Novel is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy novels. A work of fiction is considered a novel by the organization if it is 40,000 words or longer; ...

. 2016 Nominee for Best YA Novel at the

Dragon Awards The Dragon Awards are a set of literary and media awards voted on by fandom and presented annually since 2016 by Dragon Con for excellence in various categories of science fiction, fantasy, and horror in various media — novels, movies, telev ...

. # 2017 Locus Recommended Reading List
# 2018 Locus Finalist.

Stories

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilde, Fran 1972 births Living people 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American short story writers 21st-century American women writers American science fiction writers American women novelists American women short story writers Asimov's Science Fiction people University of Baltimore alumni Warren Wilson College alumni Novelists from Philadelphia