Debbie Urbanski

Debbie Urbanski
Born
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
EducationCarleton College (BA)
Syracuse University (MFA)
OccupationWriter
Writing career
Genres
Websitedebbieurbanski.com

Debbie Urbanski 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 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][13] Working with editor Jestine Ware, Urbanski wrote what became Spider's first LGBTQIA+ story[14] about a hiking trip taken by a family with two moms.[15] 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.[16]

In 2019 she was awarded a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award for fiction and nonfiction.[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] the Los Angeles Times,[21] Engadget,[22] and Booklist;[23] was a New York Public Library Book of the Day;[24] and was a Climate Reality Project book club pick.[12] 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 science fiction, 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] the 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

  1. ↑ "Meet the 2019 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Awards Winners!". RJF. August 27, 2019.
  2. ↑ "After World | Book by Debbie Urbanski | Official Publisher Page". Simon & Schuster. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  3. ↑ "The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017 (The Best American Series)". Amazon. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  4. ↑ Abramson, Seth; Damiani, Jesse (10 November 2020). BAX 2020: Best American Experimental Writing. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 978-0819579584.
  5. ↑ The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2020 Edition. ASIN 1607015382.
  6. 1 2 "Portalmania". Simon & Schuster. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  7. ↑ "Huntington Poetry Prize". Carleton College. 12 June 2019.
  8. ↑ "Debbie Urbanski". College of Arts & Sciences at Syracuse University.
  9. ↑ Willis, Scott (April 2, 2024). "Syracuse-based author explores AI, climate change, apocalypse in debut novel". WAER.
  10. ↑ Ware, Jestine (November 16, 2018). "Ask an Author: Debbie Urbanski". Jestine Ware Editor.
  11. ↑ "Storytime Collection: Mystery & Adventure". Amazon.
  12. 1 2 Chang, Myna (2025-05-12). "Trying to Change the World: An interview with Debbie Urbanski". Uncharted. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  13. ↑ "Worlds as Bridges an interview with Debbie Urbanski". Cicada Magazine for Teens and Young Adults. November–December 2016. Archived from the original on 2023-03-22. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  14. ↑ Ware, Jestine (June 2, 2018). "One Queer Magazine Editor". Jestine Ware Editor.
  15. ↑ "Cricket Media Expands LGBTQAI+ Content and Community for Kids, Teens". Mombian. April 5, 2018.
  16. ↑ "Urbanski, Debbie". SF Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2026-08-04.
  17. ↑ "Winner, Debbie Urbanski". RJF.
  18. ↑ Cobb, Timia (December 8, 2023). "New sci-fi novel 'After World' set in apocalyptic Syracuse and Upstate New York". syracuse.com.
  19. ↑ "The Chronicle's favorite fiction and nonfiction books of 2023". San Francisco Chronicle. December 15, 2023.
  20. ↑ "2024 In Review: Part Three". Strange Horizons. January 6, 2025. Retrieved 2025-12-11.
  21. ↑ Merchant, Brian (December 22, 2023). "Column: The 10 best tech books of 2023". Los Angeles Times.
  22. ↑ "Our favorite books we read in 2024". Engadget. December 21, 2024.
  23. ↑ Maguire, Susan (August 2024). "Top 10 SF/Fantasy & Horror Debuts: 2024". Booklist Online.
  24. ↑ NY Public Library [@nypl] (February 26, 2025). "In 'After World' by Debbie Urbanski, a sentient AI determines that all humans must be eliminated as the root of climate change, leaving a woman named Sen as a "witness" to record her observations on the end of humanity. #BookOfTheDay" (Tweet) – via X (formerly Twitter).
  25. ↑ McIntyre, Amy (25 July 2025). "2025 ASLE Book Award Winners". ASLE.
  26. ↑ Sacks, Sam (July 18, 2025). "Fiction: 'Pan' by Michael Clune". The Wall Street Journal.
  27. ↑ "Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski". Publishers Weekly. 2025-04-11.
  28. ↑ Washington, Gianni (27 May 2025). "Searching and Finding in 'Sympathy for Wild Girls' and 'Portalmania'". Chicago Review of Books.
  29. ↑ Clifford, Edward (3 June 2025). "Where Does It Lead? A Review of Debbie Urbanski's Portalmania". The Massachusetts Review.
  30. ↑ Harrison, Niall (27 June 2025). "Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski: Review by Niall Harrison". Locus.
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