Yael Valencia Aldana is the author of the chapbook, Alien(s) (Bottlecap Press) and the forthcoming poetry collection, Black Mestiza (University Press of Kentucky, 2025). She is the winner of the University Press of Kentucky New Poetry and Prose Series Prize 2023 in poetry, a Pushcart Prize winner, a finalist in the AWP Kurt Brown Scholarship, and a semi-finalist for the Two Sylvia Press Wilder Poetry Prize. Her work has appeared in Torch Literary Arts, Stone Coast Review, South Florida Poetry Journal, and Cutbank Literary Journal, among others. She teaches creative writing at Florida International University. She lives in South Florida with her son and too many pets. You can find her online at YaelAldana.com.

Website: https://YaelAldana.com

Twitter Username: @yaelvalencia71

Publications

• The House of Women, Black Belly Sheep, Paw Paw Tree , Chapter House Journal (January 10, 2023)
• Entering Into the House of Women , Antithesis Blog (January 20)
• Night Rises from Their Bodies , Miniskirt Magazine (October 30, 2022)
• How to Be a Writer: My Twenty-Year Plan , South Florida Poetry Journal (January 15, 2021)
• Hammer Head , Viewless Wings Poetry Podcast (February 28, 2023)
• Sweet and Low , Scapegoat Review (March 30, 2023)
• Memoir Excerpt: Not a Blade of Grass Between Us , Slag Glass City (April 15, 2023)
• My Mother and I Save Our Yogurt Containers to Reuse Them, Brown Girl, We Are Very Witchy, and To Watch The Emmet Till Movie , Typehouse (May 15, 2023)
• My Mother’s Advice , Literary Mama (November 1, 2023)
• Black Person Head Bob , Torch Literary Arts (June 9, 2023)

Awards

• Pushcart Prize(2024)
• The University Press of Kentucky New Poetry and Prose Series Prize 2023 in poetry(2023)
• Finalist in the AWP Kurt Brown Scholarship(2023)
• Sundress Academy for the Arts Residency Fellow(2023)
• Key West Literary Seminar Residency Fellow (2023)

Employment

• Associate Editor Creative Nonfiction at West Trade Review Literary Magazine (August 2022 - )
• Freelance Editor of creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry (August 2019 - )
• Ghostwriter (August 2022 - )
• Adjunct Professor at Florida Interational University (August 2020 - )
• Adjunct Professor at Miami Dade College (January 2023 - )
• Feedback Editor at Craft Literary (April 2023 - April 2024)
• Guest Editor at Frontier Poetry (August 2023 - April 2024)
• Guest Editor at Palette Poetry (August 2023 - April 2024)
• Managing Editor at Purple Ink Press (November 2023 - )

Degrees

• Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts - Painting from Bard College at Simon's Rock (May 1991)
• Master of Arts in Women Gender and Sexuality from Florida Atlantic University (August 2018)
• Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Florida international University (May 2022)

Genres of Interest

Fiction, Creative nonfiction, Children's literature , Poetry