José Pablo Iriarte

Iriarte is Cuban American and Spanish is their first language, having learned English right after starting kindergarten.[1][2] The first paying magazine rejection Iriarte received was at 13.[2]

Iriarte is non-binary and says to have long had a fascination with gender and societal expectations of it.[3] Their work takes inspiration from the young adult novelist A.S. King and the short story writers Sam J. Miller, Sarah Pinsker, Caroline Joachim, Sandra McDonald, Ken Liu, and Elizabeth Bear.[3]

Iriarte works as a high school math teacher and lives in Central Florida.[1] They are married and have two children.[1]

For Iriarte's short story "The Substance of My Lives, the Accidents of Our Births”, they tackled gender identity, a choice inspired by identifying as non-binary.[3] The story was published in the American online speculative magazine Lightspeed Magazine, in Issue 92, in January 2018.[4] It was a finalist for a Nebula Award for Best Short Story in the category Fantasy in 2018[5] and on the longlist for the James Tiptree Award in 2018.[6] It was received favorably by critics, earning a triple star review, and was on Tangent Online's Recommended Reading List in 2018.[7]

Iriarte's short story "Yuca and Dominoe," originally published by Strange Horizons in 2013, has also been translated into Spanish and published in the anthology Órbita Juracán: Cuentos de Ciencia Ficción in 2016 as "Yuca y Dominos."[8]

Iriarte's 2016 short story "The Vampire's Stepdaughter" was published in the September/August issue of Fantastic Stories of the Imagination.[9] It was on Tangent Online's Recommended Reading List in 2016 and received a starred review,[9] as well as the 2017 short story "O Stone, Be Not So" in 2017.[10]

Several of their short stories were placed on the SFWA Nebula Recommended Reading List.[8]

Some of Iriarte's work is published under the name José Iriarte.[11]

• “Cabrón” in TWO: The Second Annual Horror Special (Stupefying Stories Magazine, 2013)
• “Yuca and Dominoe.” (Strange Horizons, 2013)
• “Extra Innings” (Penumbra eMag, 2014)
• “Message from Beyond” (Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, 2015)
• “Weight of the World” (Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, 2015)
• “Cupid and Psyche at the Caffé Sol y Mar” (Fireside Fiction, 2015)
• “The Flood” (Grantville Gazette, 2015)
• "The Curse of Giants” in People of Color Take Over Fantastic Stories Flash Fiction Anthology (2016)
• "The Vampire’s Stepdaughter.” (Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, 2016)
• "Life in Stone, Glass, and Plastic" (Strange Horizons, 2016)
• “Of Unions, Intersections, and Empty Sets” (Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, 2016)
• "Spirit of Home” (Motherboard, 2016)
• “The Curse of Giants” (Daily Science Fiction, 2016)
• “O Stone, Be Not So” (Diabolical Plots, 2017)
• "Heart Stitch” (Daily Science Fiction, 2017)
• "Duck Duck God" (Book Smugglers Publishing, 2017)
• "A Mile in His Cleats” (Spaceports and Spidersilk, 2018)
• "The Substance of My Lives, the Accidents of Our Births” (Lightspeed Magazine, 2018)
• “Secrets and Things We Don’t Say Out Loud” (Cast of Wonders, 2018)
• "This Wine-Dark Feeling That Isn’t the Blues” (Escape Pod, 2019)

Won

• Sippy Award for "Life in Stone, Glass, and Plastic" (Strange Horizons, 2016)[12]

Nominated

• Nebula Award for Best Short Story in the category Fantasy for "The Substance of My Lives, the Accidents of Our Births” (Lightspeed Magazine, 2018)[13]
• James Tiptree Award for "The Substance of My Lives, the Accidents of Our Births” (Lightspeed Magazine, 2018)[14]