CV

Yael Valencia Aldana

Writer, Editor, Teacher

Education

M.F.A. in CreativeWriting  
August 2022
Florida International University, Florida

M.A. Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
August 2018  
Florida Atlantic University, Florida

Certificate in Nonprofit Management
May 2016
Florida Atlantic University, Florida

B.A. in Liberal Arts, cum laude
May 1991
Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Massachusetts   

HONORS AND AWARDS  

Key West Literary Seminar Workshop Fellow
January 2023
Sundress Academy for the Arts Residency Fellow (upcoming)
May 2023 
Nonfiction Runner up FIU Student Literary Awards
2022
Best of the Net nominee
2020
First place  
Latin American Training Center Brazil-Florida Student Screenplay Treatment Competition 2018
Women, Gender, and Gender Studies Fellowship, Florida Atlantic University
2016-2018
Feminist Scholarship Fund Scholar, Feminist Scholarship Fund, Boca Raton, Florida 2017-2018

PUBLICATIONS

Slag Glass City (upcoming) Spring 2023
Memoir Excerpt: Not a Blade of Grass Between Us 

Viewless Wings
Poem: Hammerhead

Miniskirt Magazine November
Flash Fiction: Night Rises from Their Bodies

Chapter House Journal January
Creative nonfiction: Black Belly Sheep, and The Secret of the Pawpaw Tree

Antithesis Blog January
Creative nonfiction: Entering Into the House of Women

Scapegoat Review (upcoming) Spring 2023
Poetry: Sweet and Low

South Florida Poetry Journal January 2021
Creative Nonfiction: How to Be a Writer: My Twenty-Year Plan

The Human Prospect  July 2019
Memoir Excerpt: Real Mothers and Otherwise Print Journal

Florida Atlantic University  August 2018
Real Mothers and Otherwise: on ProQuest

Florida Atlantic University  and Old Davie School Historical Museum 2017
Oral History of Bottner Jumper

WRITING AND EDITING

Editorial Feedback Consultant at Craft Literary Magazine
Offering pointed and detailed editorial feedback on creative prose for a busy literary magazine

Associate Editor Creative Nonfiction at West Trade Review Literary Magazine
2022Present
Reviewing prose submitted to the magazine, part of a team that selects pieces to be published in the online and print magazine, providing feedback to authors when requested, working with authors to refine and polish their work for publication, writing book reviews and craft essays

Ghostwriter
2022Present

Freelance Editor of creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry
2019Present
Working with writers at all levels and assisting them in elevating their work  

Reader Gulfstream Literary Magazine                    
20202022                                   
Part of a team that reviewed writing for publication in Gulfstream Literary Magazine

TEACHING & ADVISING

Adjunct Professor 2022Present
Department: English Department, Miami Dade College
Teaches Composition 1101 and 1102

Adjunct Professor  2020Present
Department: English Department, Florida International University
Teaches Introduction to Creative Writing: CRW3010 Creative Writing: Forms
and Practices

Graduate Teaching Assistant 2022
Department: Creative Writing, Florida International University
Taught Introduction to Creative Writing: CRW3010 Creative Writing: Forms and Practices

Graduate Teaching Assistant 20162018
Department: Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Florida Atlantic University
Taught two undergraduate classes in The Women, Gender, and Sexuality department: Introduction to Women Studies and Introduction to Sexuality and Gender

Department: Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Florida Atlantic University  
Teaching Assistant in Women, Gender, and Sexuality and Sociology department
Organized and led group discussions on social and academic issues

VOLUNTEERING

Mentor 2017-2018
Florida Atlantic University
Counseled undergraduate transfer students on issues such as pacing themselves and successfully completing goals.

Mentor  2019Present
Take Stock in Children High School scholarship program

Mentor 2022Present
Kabbalah Center of South Florida