Photo by Ryan Spencer
Lena Valencia is the author of the short story collection Mystery Lights (Tin House Books, 2024). Her fiction has appeared in BOMB, Electric Literature, Ninth Letter, Epiphany, the anthology Tiny Nightmares, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a 2019 Elizabeth George Foundation grant and holds an MFA in fiction from The New School. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she is the managing editor and director of educational programming at One Story and the co-host of the reading series Ditmas Lit.
Mystery Lights Press
REVIEWS
The Rumpus, August '24
Chicago Review of Books, August '24
West Trade Review, August '24
Cleaver, July '24
Full Stop Magazine, June '24
Publishers Weekly, June '24
Kirkus Reviews, May '24
Shelf Awareness, May '24
ESSAYS, etc.
"Experiencing Place in Fiction: On Allowing Your Characters To Get Lost", LitHub, August '24
Mystery Lights playlist, Largehearted Boy, August '24
"'Funny, Scary, and Delightfully Weird': Lena Valencia on the Many Faces of Literary Terror", Library of America, August '24
INTERVIEWS
Interview with Jessie Ren Marshall, Brooklyn Rail, July '24
Interview with Liv Albright, Electric Literature, August '24
Interview with Jane Ciabattari, Lit Hub, August '24
Interview with Emily Collins, The Adroit Journal, September '24
PODCASTS
So Many Damn Books, September '24
Otherppl with Brad Listi, August '24
Talking Scared, August '24
Debutiful, August '24
Writer's Bone, August '24
OTHER PRESS
"The Best Horror Books of 2024 (So Far)" by Neil McRobert, Esquire, August '24
"Writers to Watch in Fall 2024" by Matt Seidel, Publishers Weekly, July '24
"The Most Anticipated Debut Books of 2024", Debutiful, June '24
B&N.com, "Manderley & More: Gothic & Unnerving Reads" by Isabelle McConville, May '24
The LA Times, "20 Books You Need to Read this Summer" by Lorraine Berry, May '24
The Rumpus, August '24
Chicago Review of Books, August '24
West Trade Review, August '24
Cleaver, July '24
Full Stop Magazine, June '24
Publishers Weekly, June '24
Kirkus Reviews, May '24
Shelf Awareness, May '24
ESSAYS, etc.
"Experiencing Place in Fiction: On Allowing Your Characters To Get Lost", LitHub, August '24
Mystery Lights playlist, Largehearted Boy, August '24
"'Funny, Scary, and Delightfully Weird': Lena Valencia on the Many Faces of Literary Terror", Library of America, August '24
INTERVIEWS
Interview with Jessie Ren Marshall, Brooklyn Rail, July '24
Interview with Liv Albright, Electric Literature, August '24
Interview with Jane Ciabattari, Lit Hub, August '24
Interview with Emily Collins, The Adroit Journal, September '24
PODCASTS
So Many Damn Books, September '24
Otherppl with Brad Listi, August '24
Talking Scared, August '24
Debutiful, August '24
Writer's Bone, August '24
OTHER PRESS
"The Best Horror Books of 2024 (So Far)" by Neil McRobert, Esquire, August '24
"Writers to Watch in Fall 2024" by Matt Seidel, Publishers Weekly, July '24
"The Most Anticipated Debut Books of 2024", Debutiful, June '24
B&N.com, "Manderley & More: Gothic & Unnerving Reads" by Isabelle McConville, May '24
The LA Times, "20 Books You Need to Read this Summer" by Lorraine Berry, May '24