Fran Fabriczki
Fran Fabriczki was born in Budapest and has lived in Los Angeles and London. She read English at the University of Cambridge and worked in publishing for several years before going freelance to focus on her own writing. She graduated from the University of East Anglia’s Creative Writing MA in 2022 and received the Curtis Brown Award for her dissertation.
Porcupines is her first novel.
© Zsófia Bodnár
Summit Books (US)
April 14, 2026
Fig Tree, PRH (UK)
April 16, 2026
Fran Fabriczki was born in Budapest and has lived in Los Angeles and London. She read English at the University of Cambridge and worked in publishing for several years before going freelance to focus on her own writing. She graduated from the University of East Anglia’s Creative Writing MA in 2022 and received the Curtis Brown Award for her dissertation.
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Heralds the arrival of an ambitious writer [...] a funny, amusing, clever story about migration
– Vogue
Taut, funny and poignant. A tremendous debut
– Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Funny, acerbic, and wonderfully playful, Porcupines is a brilliant, cross-generational portrait of an immigrant family constantly assailed by whether they are American enough, Hungarian enough or Jewish enough. It's completely delicious: a novel to sink into
― Naomi Wood, author of Mrs. Hemingway
A dazzling mother-daughter story, Porcupines shows us the softness that lies beneath the spikes
― Jenny Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of Pineapple Street
A really accomplished debut. Sharp and funny as hell
― Chris Power, author of A Lonely Man
Brings to mind the humour and pathos of Andrew Sean Greer and
Maria Semple, but it is also utterly fresh and original . . . so elegant
and assured I was astonished it is a debut
― Lisa Owens, author of Natural Disaster
Destined to become an instant classic. Richly drawn characters in an immigrant journey as old as America herself
― Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of The View From Lake Como
Fabriczki writes with such nuance and insight into the poetics of the social, of mothers and daughters, of religion and diaspora that it feels impossible that this is her first novel. It feels more like a voice we should have been enjoying for years. Porcupines is effortlessly clever, surprising and richly detailed in an array of registers and sensibilities. An incisive, witty and poignant debut that also happens to be frequently laugh out loud funny. Sonia and Mila will stay with me forever.
—Luke Kennard, author of Black Bag
Porcupines manages the rarest of things: depicting beautifully complex characters, while simultaneously providing a deeply comforting world. The best debut I’ve read this year
― Grace Murray, author of Blank Canvas
Perfect for Elif Batuman fans, this is a wonderfully warm, witty read about mothers and daughters, sisters and lovers, migration and belonging, and what it truly means to feel at home. I loved it
― Julianne Pachico, author of The Jungle House
An acutely and deftly told story of family … Wise, emotive and funny, Fran Fabriczki is a beautiful writer who writes sisterhood and motherhood so well I felt like could reach out and touch her characters
― Ore Agbaje-Williams, author of The Three of Us
A haunting, funny and compulsively readable novel about the intricacies of family, loss and trust
― Chloe Caldwell, author of Women
If Gilmore Girls had sharper edges and came with a Los Angeles sunburn, you’d have this riveting novel, a love letter to kids who are done keeping their parents’ secrets
― Courtney Maum, author of I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You
Sonia and her daughter Mila are wonderfully funny, unpredictable forces in this sharp, witty take on the American dream and the persistence of Old Europe
― Andrew Cowan, author of Pig
Events
Waterstones Islington: Fran Fabriczki in Conversation
Wednesday, 15 April
Join us with Fran Fabriczki to discuss Porcupines, an irresistible debut about mothers and daughters, the things we carry with us, and those we leave behind.
FANE x Porcupines: Fran Fabriczki and Lisa Owens in conversation
Streaming 13-27 April
Join debut novelist Fran Fabriczki as she presents Porcupines, an irresistible story about mothers and daughters, the things we carry with us, and those we leave behind.
Ticehurst Literary Festival
Saturday, 25 April
We believe literature can promote understanding, provide escapism, knowledge, recognition, pleasure, and even company. Books are a meeting of the imaginations of author and reader, at Ticehurst Literary Festival the two can meet in person.
Like Mother, Like Daughter: Fran Fabriczki and Charlotte Mendelson in Conversation, National Centre for Writing
Wednesday, 13 May
As part of our ongoing series spotlighting debut authors alongside established novelists, we’re delighted to welcome multi award-winning writer and editor Charlotte Mendelson and vibrant literary newcomer Fran Fabriczki for an open and honest discussion about the joys and challenges of depicting messy mother-daughter dynamics in their fiction.
[PAST EVENT]
Fig Tree Proof Party at Cheltenham Literature Festival
Tuesday, 14 October
Fig Tree introduces three upcoming debuts exploring dysfunctional families: in Fran Fabriczki’s Porcupines, the daughter of a Hungarian immigrant tracks down her mysterious father; Angela Tomaski’s The Infamous Gilberts sees five siblings growing up in a crumbling stately home; in Grace Murray’s Blank Canvas, a student concocts a web of lies involving her supposedly dead father. Chaired by Daniel Hahn.
Agent
Foreign Rights