Malia Márquez is the author of the novels City of Smoke and Sea and This Fierce Blood. Her background in visual, performing, and movement arts has led her to a writing practice that is rooted in realism yet drawn toward the super-real. Her work explores deconstructed narrative through fractured form, satire, comedy, and exploration of liminal states, stretching the bounds of conventional storytelling. Her fiction, essays, and translations have appeared in Poetry, Literary Hub, The Georgia Review, and elsewhere. Malia teaches creative writing at UCLAx and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Born in Santa Fe, New Mexico to parents of Chicano, Native, and European descent, she currently lives in Los Angeles.
Photo credit: Diana Feil
New & Forthcoming:
“Press Play” (short story), The Georgia Review~Summer 2025
“You Want to Be a Better Writer? Observe Chicken Behavior” (essay), Literary Hub, 5/25
Judy Richardson on Civil Rights: Then— and Now (profile), Antioch Common Thread, 5/25
City of Smoke and Sea (novel), Red Hen Press, 4/25
Published & Awards:
“The Space Between You” (essay, anthology), Becoming Real, Pact Press, 10/24
Winner of Red Hen Press Women’s Prose Prize, City of Smoke and Sea (novel), 2023
Fiction Finalist, This Fierce Blood, Housatonic Book Awards 2022
Silver Medal for Multicultural Fiction, This Fierce Blood, Independent Publishers Book Awards (IPPY) 2022
“Journey” (poetry translation), Poetry, 2022
“On Journey” (translation note), Poetry, 2022
“A House So Beautiful” (short story), Coffin Bell Journal, 2021; nominated for Best of the Net, 2021
This Fierce Blood (novel), Acre Books, 2021
"What Happens to the Heart" (music review/ flash fiction), Hobart, 2020
"A House So Beautiful" (short story), Shortlisted, Staunch Short Story Prize, 2020