M. A. Dubbs

M. A. Dubbs (she/ella) is an award-winning Mexican American and LGBT+ writer who hails from Indiana. Dubbs writes poetry, short-fiction, and visual art. Her writing has been published in literary magazines, anthologies, zines across the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, India, Austria, Australia and Nigeria.

Dubbs is the author of three poetry collections: Aerodynamic Drag: Poetry and Short Fiction (2021),  chapbook An American Mujer (Bottlecap Press, 2022) and Limestone Versified: Indiana Haiku and Poetry (2023). Her poem “Indiana Night” won first place in the 2012 Melba Geoffroy Poetry Contest and her poem “Slash-and-Burn won “Best of Poetry” award in the 2014 edition of Genesis. In 2022 she was nominated for the Pushcart Prize from Oyster River Pages for her poem "The Conquest of Hoarding". Her poem "A Bi Awakening in a Red State" was long-listed for the 2022 Spectrum Poetry Competition and in 2023 her poem "Here's to Us Spanglish Kids" was shortlisted for Renard Press' Kinship Poetry Prize. Her poem "Poetic Paramour" won 2nd place in the 44th annual PSI Love of Poetry Prize. Her poem "A Forager's Haiku in Season's" won 3rd place in the 44th annual PSI Membership Award. In 2023 she was awarded the Holden Vaughn Spangler Award from RCC Muse for her poem "The Quiets of Parenting."

Her poetry has been archived in Indiana's Poetry Archive (INverse) and she served as judge for the 2022 Poetry Out Loud's state competition. Dubbs has performed in several live and virtual readings including being a featured author for both Poets Laureate of Lawrence and Poetry on Brick Street. She also performed at the 2021 Grand Opening of Fort Ben’s Culture Campus and the 2023 Grand Opening of Indianapolis’ Fort Ben Library. In 2024 she performed at DePauw University as part of the Hidden Sun solar eclipse tour. Her Hidden Sun haiku was printed on a banner and hung in Greencastle Square as public art. Dubbs will also be hosting a free public poetry publishing workshop through Poets Laureate of Lawrence to introduce new local writers to the world of publishing.

Dubbs earned her BA in English at Indiana University Bloomington. She was president and founder of IU’s Creative Writing Club and was an Associate Editor of poetry, non-fiction, and literary fiction for The Scribe, a literary ezine. Dubbs was also an intern for the nationally celebrated Indiana Review.

Dubbs lives with her husband, twin girls, cat, and dog and enjoys hiking, gardening, running, mushroom foraging, video games and watching 90s magical girl anime.