Natalia Theodoridou

Natalia Theodoridou (born c. 1984) is a Greek novelist, interactive fiction writer, and scholar.^[1] He was the fiction editor at sub-Q, an interactive fiction magazine. The magazine entered indefinite hiatus starting August 2020.^[2] He has a PhD in Media & Cultural Studies and graduated from the Clarion West Writers Workshop.^[3]

Natalia Theodoridou
Born	c. 1984 (age c. 41) Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece

Theodoridou's "The Birding: A Fairy Tale", published in Strange Horizons, was the winner of the 2018 World Fantasy Award for short fiction works.^[4] It is about a plague that turns nearly everyone in the world into birds. The work was also adapted into podcast format.^[5]

As of 2025, as an interactive fiction writer he has been nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Game Writing four times.

Theodoridou's debut novel, Sour Cherry, came out in April 2025 from Tin House (North America) and Wildfire (UK & Commonwealth).

Awards

• Greek Scientific Society Award, 2003
• Scholarship by the Greek State Scholarship Foundation (IKY) for undergraduate studies, 2002–2005
• MA Studentship (Drama & Theatre Department, Royal Holloway University of London), 2007–2008
• Fulbright Scholar, 2008–2010
• SOAS Research Scholarship 2010–2013, & Additional Award for Fieldwork, 2010
• Ouseley Memorial Scholarship, 2011–2013
• World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction, 2018
• Word Factory Apprentice Award, 2018
• Emerging Writer Award (Moniack Mhor and The Bridge Awards), 2022

Bibliography

Novels

• Sour Cherry (2025)

Interactive Fiction

The following works were nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Game Writing.

• Rent-A-Vice (2018)
• Vampire: The Masquerade (Choice of Games)- Sins of the Sires (2022)
• Restore, Reflect, Retry (2024)

Poetry

• "Blackmare" (2013)
• "Ex Machina" (2014)
• "Philomela in Seven Movements" (2015)
• "An Inventory of Ghosts" (2015)

Short fiction

Title	Year	First published	Reprinted / collected	Notes[6]
"The Nightingales in Plátres"	2017	Theodoridou, Natalia (November 2017). "The Nightingales in Plátres". Clarkesworld (133): 21–33.		Nominated BSFA for Best Short Fiction 2017
"The Birding: A Fairy Tale"	2017	Theodoridou, Natalia (18 December 2017). "The Birding: A Fairy Tale". Strange Horizons.		Winner, World Fantasy Award 2018
"The Names of Women"	2018	Theodoridou, Natalia (11 October 2018). "The Names of Women". Strange Horizons Fund Drive Special.		Nominated BSFA for Best Short Fiction 2018
"Birnam Platoon"	2018	Theodoridou, Natalia (November–December 2018). "Birnam Platoon". Interzone (278): 62–73.		Nominated BSFA for Best Short Fiction 2018
"Georgie in the Sun"	2020	Theodoridou, Natalia (March–April 2020). "Georgie in the Sun". Uncanny Magazine (33).		Placed 34th Locus for Best Short Story 2021
"The Shape of Gifts"	2020	Theodoridou, Natalia (July–August 2020). "The Shape of Gifts". F&SF. 139 (1&2): 239–256.
"To Set at Twilight in a Land of Reeds"	2022	Theodoridou, Natalia (2022). "To Set at Twilight in a Land of Reeds". The Best of World SF. 2 (?): –––.
"Ribbons"	2022	Theodoridou, Natalia (2022). "Ribbons". Uncanny Magazine (44).
"The Prince of Salt and the Ocean's Bargain"	2022	Theodoridou, Natalia (2022). "The Prince of Salt and the Ocean's Bargain". Uncanny Magazine (48)		Nominated for Nebula Award for Best Novelette 2022.
"Love at the Event Horizon"	2023	Theodoridou, Natalia (2023). "Love at the Event Horizon". Uncanny Magazine (53).
"Tell the King"	2024	Theodoridou, Natalia (2024). "Tell the King". Beneath Ceaseless Skies #401.		2024 Locus Recommended Reading List
"Cursed Moon Queers"	2024	Theodoridou, Natalia (2024). "Cursed Moon Queers". Uncanny Magazine (60).
"UPDATE: The Buildings Are Hungry and the Plague Can Speak"	2025	Theodoridou, Natalia (2025). "UPDATE: The Buildings Are Hungry and the Plague Can Speak". Psychopomp.