Debra is a multi-genre, multimedia writer whose books include The Jirí Chronicles & Other Fictions; Drought & Say What You Like: Novellas; Prayers of an Accidental Nature: Short Stories; Skin of the Sun: New Writing; and What the Body Requires: A Novel. She has been favorably reviewed in The New York Times Book Review, Publishers Weekly, Review of Contemporary Fiction, and elsewhere. Literary awards include a James C. McCormick Fellowship in Fiction from the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, Thorpe Menn Book Award, Cinovation Screenwriting Award, DIAGRAM Innovative Fiction Award, and others. Her books are taught at colleges and universities across the country, and have been the subject of doctorate studies abroad. Debra's fiction is included in a many leading anthologies of innovative writing and has been adapted to film, radio, theatre, and audio CD in the U.S. and abroad. Her essays, art reviews and articles can be found in a variety of international, national and regional publications. The short film based on her novella, Drought, won a host of national and international awards, and was one of only six US films invited to the Universe Elle section of the 2000 Cannes International Film Festival. Her visual art has been exhibited at galleries and museums in the U.S. and virtually. Considered a literary futurist, Debra frequently lectures on topics related to 21st Century narrative forms as they intersect with new and future technologies. She has presented at MIT, Sorbonne University in Paris, Associated Writing Programs Conferences in Seattle, New York, Washington DC, Chicago and Denver; &NOW Conferences of Innovative Writing in Chicago, San Diego, Buffalo, Boulder, Notre Dame University, and Chapman University; Kansas City Film Festival; Louisville Writers Conference; Mark Twain Writers Conference, and at many universities, colleges and high schools. She was owner and founding publisher of the multimedia company Jaded Ibis Productions, LLC, and its imprint Jaded Ibis Press from 2008-2015. In just three years, the startup has gained national attention for its innovative business model, environmental focus, and intrepid adventures into the newest digital technologies, from interactive iBook to app-novel and beyond. Jaded Ibis Press, its editors and authors have been the subject of feature articles, interviews and reviews in Poets & Writers, Forbes, The Brooklyn Rail, Ploughshares, The Believer, Huffington Post, Lambda Literary, American Book Review, and many other print and online publications. Jaded Ibis books have made a number of "Best" lists, including four of Oprah's, and Wall Street Journal, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon bestseller lists. Debra worked in advertising management and production at MacWeek magazine and Robert Half of Northern California, and was contributing writer for SOMA art magazine (San Francisco), and art reviewer for The Pitch (Kansas City) and The New Art Examiner (Chicago). For eight years, she taught experimental creative writing forms at Kansas City Art Institute, including hyperfiction, mixed media and multimedia fiction, experimental writing and the new memoir. She lives abroad with her husband, architect Mark Shapiro.