Maria Melendez Kelson

Maria Kelson is a Chicana writer committed to exploring the relationships between people of color and their natural and social environments in literary works. Her two collections of poetry, written as Maria Melendez, are published by University of Arizona Press and were finalists for the Colorado Book Award, PEN Center USA Literary Award, and International Latino Book Award. Her debut novel won the Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for Crime Fiction Writers of Color and will be published in September 2024 by Crooked Lane Books. She has given writing workshops for all ages at libraries, community centers, and schools across the country for over 25 years, and was selected as a U.S. State Department Arts Envoy to Bogotá, Colombia in 2019.

Residency/Fellowship

2025 Community of Practice and Equal Justice 2017/2018

Website

mariakelson.com

Location

Hutchinson, KS

 

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