Alaya Dawn Johnson

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Hanging in, hanging on

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I have been busy with my new position as the visiting professor at the MFA program of Queens College, which has been a deeply rewarding but sometimes overwhelming experience. Some writing is happening in the cracks, which is important to me. You can even read some of it in my newsletter, A stranger comes home. You can also read my recent short stories, including one published this January in Reactor Magazine, “What I Saw Before the War.“

But mostly what occupies my thoughts is a giant project, one I’ve been working on and thinking about in one way or another for about twenty years. It’s my great Mexico novel, a project that has had an enormous influence on my life despite my never having been able (yet) to finish it. I’ve written and thrown away 60,000 words of this sucker, but I think this time I have it. It’s historical, it’s science fictional, it’s magical, and it encompasses most of what I’ve been privileged to learn and understand about my adopted home. I’m also nowhere near finished, so don’t look for it on bookshelves next year, but I figured it’s good to let people know what’s still cooking on my creative burner.

Until next time, take care of yourselves, take care of one another, take care of the planet, and resist cruelty and ignorance in all its forms.

Love,

Alaya

Signs of life

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Life is beautiful and I’m still writing, though not as quickly as I’d like sometimes. I have a new position as a visiting professor of creative writing for a year, which I am absurdly excited about. I feel as though I’m going to learn as much about writing as my students! I’ve had a new short story out from Clarkesworld Magazine, which I am quite proud of. And I’ve been publishing some very adventurous (for me) pieces of creative non-fiction in my newsletter, A Stranger Comes Home. I have many cool new projects in the pipeline, but in the meantime, I am still basking in the warm glow of having been nominated for the prestigious Ursula K. Le Guin Award for my novel The Library of Broken Worlds. It just takes one reader. Maybe that’s you?

Abrazos,

Alaya

Turning inward

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The Library of Broken Worlds came out this past June, and I was deeply gratified by all the support and love I received at the incredible Octavia’s Bookshelf in Pasadena, California, where I had my book launch. Thank you so much to Brandy Colbert for such excellent (and healing!) conversation and the whole Octavia’s Bookshelf team, who have made such a beautiful, welcoming space for Black books and Black voices. It was a joy to see friends, old and new, and to celebrate the launch of a book that I truly love and am proud of.

I’ve now returned home to my beloved cerro, and I’m in the process of centering myself in my work again, and figuring out what I want my career to look like from now on. I probably won’t have a ton of news to post here, but one of my big plans is to ramp up my substack, A Stranger Comes Home, so please subscribe there if you’d like to read some of my essays about life as a writer and immigrant in rural Mexico. Between the pandemic, ever-rising global inequality, and demographic shifts, the publishing industry has changed and we writers have to figure out how to adapt ourselves with it. I feel more like a whale of writer than a squid, unfortunately. It’s going to take me some energy to figure out where to go from here, but I know that I will. I hope that you, whoever you are, will be interested to go in these new directions with me.

Abrazos,

Alaya

Fire on the horizon, counting down the weeks

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We’re heading into fire season here in Oaxaca. A haze is in the air and ash floats by when the wind is in the right direction. There’s not much you can do about it but pray it doesn’t get too close. Our house is solid concrete, no danger there, but we have to keep an eye out on the straw-thatched roof of my separate office.

I’m going up north, as they say here, to promote my new novel, The Library of Broken Worlds, which N.K. Jemisin called “modern epic poetry.” I’ll be in LA for Yallwest on April 29th and I’ll be back in that town on June 6th to celebrate the book launch. I am so excited to share this book with the world but it all feels a little distant from where I’m typing. I can’t wait to share that energy with fans and friends in a few weeks. Details are up for Yallwest, and are coming VERY SOON for the book launch. I’m also lining up a few other virtual and in-person appearances for June and July, so watch this space for more info. And of course, check out the book and preorder it if you can! Even recommending it to your local library is a huge help.

Abrazos,

Alaya

Odds and Ends in 2022

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Well, hello September 2022! I have finally given this site a long-overdue update, including my incredible collaboration with Janelle Monáe on The Memory Librarian AND my forthcoming novel The Library of Broken Worlds from Scholastic in June 2023. I’ll have a lot more about the new novel, which I am SO EXCITED ABOUT, so watch this space. I’m also delighted to share that my short story collection, Reconstruction, was a finalist for the Ignyte Award for Best Anthology/Collected Work, and also for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Fiction.

Also, I am excited to announce that I’m offering editorial services! You can contact me directly here, or if you prefer, via Reedsy.

Finally, if you’d like to read essays about immigrant life in Mexico, writing, and my journey as a trauma survivor, please check out and subscribe to my newsletter A Stranger Comes Home. Bonus: I am most likely to post any announcements there first.