Melissa Lozada-Oliva
is a Guatelombian (Guatemalan-Colombian) American writer. Her chapbook peluda (Button Poetry 2017) explores the intersections of Latina identity, feminism, hair removal & what it means to belong. In her novel-in-verse Dreaming of You (2021, Astra House), a poet brings Selena back to life through a seance & deals with disastrous consequences. Candelaria (Astra House, 2023) follows a Guatemalan grandmother at the end of the world and her three American loser granddaughters who started it. Candelaria was named one of the best books of 2023 by VOGUE and USA Today. She co-hosts a podcast called Say More with Olivia Gatwood where they dissect the world through a poetic lens. Her substack READING SUCKS tracks the book she’s read and the distractions she had while reading them, while interviewing authors about their struggles with reading. Her collection of short stories Beyond Reasonable Doubt Jesus is Alive! will be out through Astra House in 2025. In 2024 she was named the Our Word Writer in Residence at Columbia University. She is currently adapting Dreaming of You into a film and working on a new novel. Melissa has done brand work with Facebook, Instagram, Google, Armani, and Topo Chico Hard Seltzer. She loves balancing the line between horror and humor. Her work has been featured or is forthcoming in NPR, VOGUE, REMEZCLA, PAPER, The Guardian, BreakBeat Poets, Kenyon Review, Vulture, Bustle, Glamour Magazine, The Huffington Post, Muzzle Magazine, The Adroit Journal, and BBC Mundo. She is from Massachusetts and lives in Brooklyn. Photos by Bridget Badore.