Biography
Michael A. Burstein

Michael A. Burstein was born in New York City and grew up in the neighborhood of Forest Hills in the borough of Queens. He attended Hunter College High School in Manhattan. In 1991 he graduated from Harvard College with a degree in Physics, and in 1993 he earned a Master's in Physics from Boston University. In 1994 he attended the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer's Workshop.

Burstein's first published story, "TeleAbsence," which appeared in the July 1995 issue of Analog, was nominated for the Hugo Award and was chosen by the readers of Analog as the best short story published by the magazine in 1995. Two years later, Burstein won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer at the 1997 World Science Fiction Convention, LoneStarCon2. Burstein subsequently received Hugo nominations for "Broken Symmetry," "Cosmic Corkscrew," "Kaddish for the Last Survivor," (also a Nebula nominee) "Spaceships," "Paying It Forward," "Decisions, "Time Ablaze," "Seventy-Five Years," "TelePresence," and a Nebula and Sturgeon nomination for "Reality Check," and a Nebula nomination for "I Remember the Future." His novella "Sanctuary" (Analog, September 2005) was chosen by the readers of Analog as the best novella published by the magazine in 2005 and was nominated for the Nebula Award. From 1998 to 2000, Burstein served as Secretary of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

Burstein lives with his wife Nomi and their twin daughters in the town of Brookline, Massachusetts, where he is an elected Town Meeting Member and Library Trustee. He has worked as a Science teacher at all levels and currently edits Science textbooks for middle school and high school. He has given lectures and spoken at various science fiction conferences and libraries, and to groups at MIT and Harvard.

Affiliations

• Grub Street,Inc., Boston's independent creative writing center
• Society for the Preservation of Pluto as a Planet
• Critters, an on-line workshop
• New England Science Fiction Association (NESFA)
• Horror Writers Association (HWA)
• Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA)
• Lewis Carroll Society of North America
• American Association of Physics Teachers, a division of the American Institute of Physics (Member, 1993-2004)
• Once a member of the Harvard-Radcliffe Science Fiction Association and of the Noteables
• Once the Chair of the Harvard-Radcliffe Society of Physics Students
• Once involved with the Columbia University Science Fiction Society

Offices Held

• President, Society for the Preservation of Pluto as a Planet (2006-)
• Brookline Board of Library Trustees (2004-)
• Brookline Town Meeting Member, precinct 9 (2001-)
• Assistant Coordinator, Science Fiction Lecture Series, MIT Media in Transition Project
• Secretary, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, (1998-2000)
• Vice-President, New England Science Fiction Association, (1998-2000)

Personal

• Born in New York City; raised in Forest Hills, Queens
• Hunter College High School '87
• Harvard College A.B. in Physics '91
• As a freshman, I lived in Canaday D-13; as an upperclassman, I lived in Lowell House
• Boston University M.A. in Physics '93
• Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer's Workshop '94
• Currently living in Brookline, Massachusetts
• Brookline Library Trustee (2004-)
• Brookline Town Meeting Member, precinct 9 (2001-)
• Physics Teacher at The Berkeley Carroll School, 1993-1995
• Teacher of Physics, Astronomy, Mathematics, and Science Fiction Writing at the Cambridge School of Weston, 1995-2001
• Science Coordinator K-8 and Middle School Science Teacher at the Rashi School, 2001-2004
• Worked as an extra on three movies:
• The Front (1976)
• The Goodbye Girl (1977)
• Radio Days (1986)
• I drive a 1995 Saturn SL1
• I like to drink Earl Grey tea
• I like to drink Bengal Spice tea
• Pictures from my wedding, June 18, 1995