Bios of varying length
25 words
Five-time Hugo Award winner and British Fantasy Award winner Michi Trota is a Filipina-American essayist, editor, speaker, and firespinner.
50 words
Michi Trota is a five-time Hugo Award-winner and British Fantasy Award winner. She is Editor-in-Chief of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), Senior Editor of Prism, and the first Filipina Hugo Award winner. She is co-editor of the WisCon Chronicles Vol. 12 (Aqueduct Press) with Isabel Schechter, has been featured in Chicago Tribute, The Guardian, and on NPR, and is also an essayist, public speaker, and fire performance artist in Chicago.
100 words
Michi Trota is a five-time Hugo Award winner, British Fantasy Award winner, and the first Filipina to win a Hugo Award. Michi is Editor-in-Chief of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) and Senior Editor of Prism. She is also co-editor of the WisCon Chronicles Vol. 12 with Isabel Schechter (Aqueduct Press), has written for Chicago Magazine, and was the exhibit text writer for Worlds Beyond Here: Expanding the Universe of APA Science Fiction at the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle, WA. She’s been featured in publications like the 2016 Chicago Reader People Issue, Chicago Tribune and The Guardian, and has spoken at the Adler Planetarium, the Chicago Humanities Festival, and on NPR. Michi is a firespinner with the Raks Geek Fire+Bellydance troupe, past president of the Chicago Nerd Social Club Board of Organizers, and lives with her spouse and their two cats in Chicago.
Long form bio
Michi Trota is a Chicago-based Filipina American writer/editor, communications & content development manager, community organizer, and firespinning geek. Michi a five-time Hugo Award winner, British Fantasy Award winner, and the first Filipina to win a Hugo Award. She’s Editor-in-Chief of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) and co-editor of the WisCon Chronicles Vol. 12 (Aqueduct Press) with Isabel Schechter. She’s the Senior Editor of Prism and was the first Managing Editor/Nonfiction Editor of the Hugo Award-winning and World Fantasy Award finalist Uncanny: A Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy (2014-2019). She’s a past president of the Chicago Nerd Social Club Board of Organizers and a resident fire performer/object manipulation artist with the Raks Geek performance troupe. Michi was featured in the 2016 Chicago Reader People Issue, the exhibit text writer for Worlds Beyond Here: Expanding the Universe of APA Science Fiction at the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle, WA, and was also a featured essayist in Invisible: An Anthology of Representation in SF/F (edited by Jim C. Hines).
Raised on a steady diet of 80s cartoons, anime, and classic sci-fi/fantasy literature and soundtracks, she’s almost been banned from playing Star Wars Trivial Pursuit with her friends, can quote from The Simpsons at the drop of a hat, never forgets to bag and board her comics, and refuses to acknowledge the existence of a fourth Indiana Jones movie. She loves Chicago and while she complains bitterly about the weather, she wouldn’t call any other city in the world home (well, except for maybe a tropical island in the Caribbean, but only for part of the year).
Discussions about geek culture, feminism, and food are guaranteed to get Michi talking for hours. She’s organized discussions and participated as a panelist at events such as the Chicago Humanities Festival, Chicago Wizard World, C2E2, and WisCon, been a guest lecturer at the University of Chicago and DePaul University, and has appeared in Bitch Media and on NPR.
Michi is also both a gourmet cook and a gourmand: she eats like a hobbit, loves food, and will geek out about it at the slightest provocation. In fact, she’s been told more than once that if she had a mutant superpower, it would be making people hungry just by talking about food. Especially if it has to do with chocolate or bacon. But mostly bacon.
Committees/Organizations Served
Chicago Nerd Social Club, Board of Organizers (2013-2018), Board President (2016-2018)
Uncanny Magazine Managing Editor/Nonfiction Editor (2014-2019)
Chicago Full Moon Jam Core Organizer (2009-2018), Communications Manager (2010-2018)
Full Moon Jam Foundation Board (2016-2018)
Facebook: Geek Melange, Michi Trota (follow option is turned on)
Twitter: @geekmelange
Tumblr: Geek Melange Mix
Instagram: @geekmelange
E-mail michi@geekmelange.com
Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. (SFWA)
Facebook: Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America
Twitter: @sfwa
Raks Geek / Raks Inferno
Facebook: Raks Geek
Twitter: @RaksGeek
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