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| Carmen Maria Machado | |
|---|---|
| Name | Carmen Maria Machado |
| Birth date | 1986 |
| Birth place | Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Occupation | Writer, critic |
| Notable works | "Her Body and Other Parties", "In the Dream House" |
| Awards | Lambda Literary Award, Massachusetts Book Award, Windham–Campbell Prize |
Carmen Maria Machado is an American writer known for short fiction, nonfiction, criticism, and memoir. Her work blends speculative elements, literary experimentation, and cultural analysis, earning recognition across literary and LGBTQ communities. Machado’s writing has appeared in major magazines and has been taught in university courses and adapted in various media.
Machado was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania and raised in West Chester, Pennsylvania. She attended Pennsylvania State University where she studied English literature and later earned an MFA from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. Machado participated in writing programs and workshops connected to institutions such as Yaddo, MacDowell Colony, and the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. Her early influences include authors and creators associated with HarperCollins, Knopf, Tin House, and journals like The New Yorker and Granta.
Machado began publishing short fiction and criticism in venues including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Guernica, The Atlantic, and The New Republic. She served as a critic-at-large for The New York Times Book Review and has been affiliated with academic programs at Columbia University, Harvard University, and writing centers such as The Iowa Writers' Workshop. Machado’s professional trajectory connects to presses and organizations like Graywolf Press, FSG, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, McSweeney's, and festivals including the Brooklyn Book Festival and Hay Festival.
Machado’s debut short story collection, "Her Body and Other Parties", was published by Graywolf Press and received wide acclaim from outlets such as The New York Times, NPR, The Guardian, and The Washington Post. Her memoir, "In the Dream House", published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, foregrounds experimental narrative forms and appeared on lists from Time (magazine), Vulture, and The New Yorker. Machado has contributed to anthologies alongside writers published by Penguin Random House, Bloomsbury, Simon & Schuster, and has written essays for collections curated by editors from Picador and Faber and Faber.
Machado’s work engages motifs found in the oeuvres of writers such as Angela Carter, Shirley Jackson, Octavia Butler, Margaret Atwood, and Jorge Luis Borges, while resonating with contemporary voices like Roxane Gay, Junot Díaz, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Zadie Smith, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Her stylistic experimentation recalls narrative techniques used by Italo Calvino, Jeanette Winterson, Ali Smith, and Jennifer Egan. Recurring themes address sexuality and trauma in dialogue with texts and creators such as Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, bell hooks, and institutions like Lambda Legal and festivals including OutFest. Machado’s speculative approach intersects with traditions in horror fiction and science fiction linked to publishers like Tor Books and magazines such as Asimov's Science Fiction.
Machado’s honors include the Lambda Literary Award, the National Book Critics Circle recognition, the Windham–Campbell Prize from Yale University, and state-level prizes like the Massachusetts Book Award. Her work has been shortlisted for prizes administered by organizations such as The Man Booker Prize committees, mentioned in year-end lists from The New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, and received fellowships from Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, MacDowell, and the Guggenheim Foundation program distinctions. Machado has been featured in panels alongside recipients of the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and PEN/Faulkner Award.
Machado identifies with communities affiliated with LGBTQ organizations such as GLAAD and networks connected to Lambda Literary Foundation. She has spoken publicly about intimate-partner abuse and the legal, cultural, and therapeutic resources tied to organizations like RAINN and National Domestic Violence Hotline. Machado’s public presence has involved collaborations with cultural institutions including The Public Theater, Smithsonian Institution, and university programs at Yale University and Princeton University.
Machado’s influence appears in contemporary curricula at institutions such as Barnard College, Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Iowa and in the programming of cultural festivals like Brooklyn Academy of Music and Theater for a New Audience. Her work is cited by emerging writers published by houses including Graywolf Press, FSG, and Tin House Press, and has fostered dialogues across communities connected to LGBTQIA+ advocacy, feminist scholarship at centers like The New School, and interdisciplinary studies at research bodies such as The New York Public Library and Library of Congress.