Michelle Peñaloza

Michelle Peñaloza is the author of Former Possessions of the Spanish Empire (Inlandia Books, 2019), which won the Hillary Gravendyk National Prize . She is also the author of two chapbooks, landscape/heartbreak (Two Sylvias, 2015) and Last Night I Dreamt of Volcanoes (Organic Weapon Arts, 2015). The recipient of fellowships and awards from the University of Oregon and Kundiman, Peñaloza has also received support from the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, Loghaven, Willapa Bay AIR, Caldera, 4Culture, Literary Arts, PAWA (Philippine American Writers and Artists), Artist Trust, VONA/Voices, and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, among others. The proud daughter of Filipino immigrants, Peñaloza was born in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. She lives in rural Northern California.