Gessy Alvarez

Fiction Writer

Author's Bio

Gessy Alvarez is a writer, editor, and publisher. She is the publisher of Digging Press, series editor of the Digging Press Chapbook Series, and editor-in-chief of Digging Through The Fat: a journal for cultural omnivores. Her recent projects include the novel Last Kingdom in Astoria and the short story collection Love the Abyss (née Taste the World on Your Skin), a finalist for the Katharine Porter Prize (University of North Texas Press, 2018) and a semi-finalist for the Black Lawrence Hudson Prize (2022). Both projects explore characters living between languages, traditions, and cultures, side-stepping around the meanings of home, origin, and fate. Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in The Acentos Review, Hobart, Asteri(x), Volume One Brooklyn, Feminine Collective, and other publications. She hosts the literary podcast Digging Through with Gessy Alvarez and The Lit Revue: a reading and music series in Room 31 at Arlo NoMad Hotel in New York City. She earned an MFA from Columbia University and has received support from the Fine Arts Work Center, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and the Millay Colony for the Arts, where she was a Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Creative Fellow. You can find out more about her work at GessyAlvarez.com and DiggingPress.com.

Gessy was born in New York City, the daughter of an Ecuadorian mother and Dominican father. She works in NYC and Bergen County, NJ.

Publications & Prizes

Journals: ,
apt: an online literary journal
,
Hobart
,
KGB Bar Lit
,
Literary Orphans
, ,
Pank
,
The Sunlight Press
, ,
Vol. 1 Brooklyn
Prizes won: 

Gessy Alvarez's recent projects include the novel Last Kingdom in Astoria and the short story collection Love the Abyss (née Taste the World on Your Skin), a finalist for the Katharine Porter Prize (University of North Texas Press, 2018) and a semi-finalist for the Black Lawrence Hudson Prize (2022). She earned an MFA from Columbia University and has received support from the Fine Arts Work Center, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and the Millay Colony for the Arts, where she was a Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Creative Fellow. 

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors: 
Clarice Lispector, Marlon James, Lynne Tillman, Angie Cruz, Sophie Calle, Lydia Davis, Jorge Amado, Jorge Borges
What I'm reading now: 
Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez, Brown Girl by Daphne Palasi Andreades, Also a Poet by Ada Calhoun, A Block in Time by Christine Bird

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
American, BIPOC, Feminist, Latino/Latina/Latinx, Mixed-Race, Multicultural
Prefers to work with: 
Adults
Fluent in: 
Spanish
Born in: 
New York, NY
New York
Raised in: 
New York, NY
New York
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Sep 24, 2022