Photo by Ryan Spencer
Lena Valencia is the author of the short story collection Mystery Lights (Tin House Books / Dead Ink Books), which was longlisted for the Story Prize, named a Best Short Story Collection of 2024 by Electric Literature, and a Best Horror Book of 2024 by Esquire. Her fiction has appeared in BOMB, The Baffler, Electric Literature, Ninth Letter, Epiphany, the anthology Tiny Nightmares, and elsewhere. Her writing has been supported by the Elizabeth George Foundation and the Convent Arts Fellowship. She holds an MFA in fiction from The New School and is the director of educational programming at One Story. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband.