Margaret Elysia Garcia

Fiction Writer

Mission Viejo, CA
California US
Email: 
megupton@thestudy.us
Website: 
www.margaretelysiagarcia.com
Twitter/X: 
@writerchickmama

Author's Bio

Margaret Elysia Garcia  is the author of the short story collection Graft, published by Tolsun Books in 2022, and the poetry chapbook Burn Scars, published in 2022 which was featured on North State Public Radio and speaks to living through the Dixie Fire of 2021. She's the author of the daughterland poems, published by El Martillo Press in 2023. She's the co-editor of Red Flag Warning: Northern Californians Living with Wildfire, an anthology about to be published by HeyDay Books in 2024. She teaches poetry with Community Literary Initiative in Los Angeles. She's currently working on her second collection of poetry and a second collection of short stories.

Education: 
University of San Francisco MFA
Writers Retreats: 
Community of Writers
DISQUIET International Literary Program

Publications & Prizes

Book:
Graft (Tolsun Books, 2022)
Prizes won: 

Second Place, the 34th Annual National Chicano/a Literary Award (in Fiction; award is now defunct).

Watch

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors: 
Lidia Yuknavitch, Joan Didion, Jeannette Winterson, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Julio Cortazar, Monique Quintana, Julie Otsuka, Jenny Forrester, Gambino Iglesias, Charles Yu, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Luís Alberto Urrea, Reyna Grande, Helena Marie Viramontes, Jean Rhys, Kate Braverman
What I'm reading now: 
Kiss Across the Oceans by Richard T. Rodriguez, Cantadora by Linda Ravenswood

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
Mexican American
Prefers to work with: 
At Risk Youth, Incarcerated individuals, Naturalists/Environmentalists, Schools
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Montebello, CA
California
Raised in: 
Los Angeles, CA
California
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Jun 16, 2023