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
2022–Present
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
2022–Present
Freelance Editor of creative nonfiction, fiction, and poetry
2019–Present
Working with writers at all levels and assisting them in elevating their work
Reader Gulfstream Literary Magazine
2020–2022
Part of a team that reviewed writing for publication in Gulfstream Literary Magazine
TEACHING & ADVISING
Adjunct Professor 2022–Present
Department: English Department, Miami Dade College
Teaches Composition 1101 and 1102
Adjunct Professor 2020–Present
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 2016–2018
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 2019–Present
Take Stock in Children High School scholarship program
Mentor 2022–Present
Kabbalah Center of South Florida