Angela Morales (born 1966,

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

) is an American essayist, writer, and educator. She is the author of '' The Girls In My Town: Essays'', published by the

University of New Mexico Press The University of New Mexico Press (UNMP) is a university press at the University of New Mexico. It was founded in 1929 and published pamphlets for the university in its early years before expanding into quarterlies and books. Its administrative ...

, 2016. Her essays appear in '' River Teeth'', ''The Baltimore Review'', ''The Los Angeles Review'', ''The Harvard Review'', ''

The Southern Review ''The Southern Review'' is a quarterly literary magazine that was established by Robert Penn Warren in 1935 at the behest of Charles W. Pipkin and funded by Huey Long as a part of his investment in Louisiana State University. It publishes fiction ...

'', ''The Chattahoochee Review'', ''The Pinch'', ''Hobart'', ''Under the Sun'', ''The Indianola Review'', and ''1966: A Journal of Creative Nonfiction,'' and other magazines.

Life

Morales grew up in San Gabriel, California. Many of her autobiographical essays describe growing up in Southern California during the 1970s. Some of the themes in her writing include motherhood, violence, female coming-of-age, and

Mexican American Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...

cultural identity. A graduate of the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

and the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

's Nonfiction Writing Program, Morales currently teaches English at Glendale Community College in Southern California. She lives in Pasadena, California with her husband Patrick Conyers and their children, Mira and Leo.

Awards

Morales is the recipient of the River Teeth Book Prize and the PEN Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. Her essay "The Girls in My Town" appeared in ''

The Best American Essays ''The Best American Essays'' is a yearly anthology of magazine articles published in the United States.Robert Atwan (ed.), Adam Gopnick (guest ed.). ''The Best American Essays 2008'', Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008. It was started in 1986 and is ...

'', 2013, edited by

Cheryl Strayed Cheryl Strayed (; née Nyland; born September 17, 1968) is an American writer and podcast host. She has written four books: the novel ''Torch'' (2006) and the nonfiction books '' Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail'' (2012), '' Ti ...

, and her essay "Bloodyfeathers, R.I.P." appeared as notable essay in Best American Essays 2015. Her essays have been nominated for

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

s, and her Master's Thesis, ''Exhuming Abuelita'' was awarded the San Francisco Foundation's James Phelan prize for nonfiction manuscript-in-progress. She worked as the Writer-in-Residence in

Denali National Park Denali National Park and Preserve, formerly known as Mount McKinley National Park, is an American national park and preserve located in Interior Alaska, centered on Denali, the highest mountain in North America. The park and contiguous preserve e ...

and has been awarded fellowships at

MacDowell Colony MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States, founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDowell ...

and

Yaddo Yaddo is an artists' community located on a estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.". On March ...

Works

* '' The Girls in My Town: essays'', Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2016. ,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morales, Angela 1966 births Living people American writers of Mexican descent University of California, Davis alumni American women essayists 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American essayists Writers from Los Angeles People from San Gabriel, California