A. Muia

A. Muia is the winner of the Flannery Award for Short Fiction for her novel "A Desert Between Two Seas," a 2026 top pick for the Southwest Book of the Year. Her stories and articles have appeared in The Baltimore Review, Chicago Review, Grist, Image Journal, Water-Stone Review, West Branch, and AWP's The Writer's Chronicle. Her fiction has been published in The Orison Anthology, nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and was a finalist for the Iowa Short Fiction Award. Her novel is a 2026 Top Pick for the Southwest Books of the Year. 

Awards: Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction; and 2026 Top Pick for Southwest Books of the Year

Southwest Families, Past and Present

Four novelists---all inspired by the desert---discuss how they use the region to tell powerful stories rooted in history and informed by current events

UA Library/Special Collections (Seats 110)  
Sat, Mar 14, 2:30 pm - 3:25 pm
Southwest Books of the Year
Signing area: Sales & Signing Area - Integrated Learning Center (following presentation)  

Panelists: Evanthia Bromiley, Nathan Harris, Anne Hillerman, A. Muia
Moderator: Mark Athitakis
Sponsors: Session made possible courtesy of University of Arizona Libraries, University of Arizona Press, Diane Huggins

Workshop: The Power of Place

How do we write stories that embody the soul of a place? Meet A. Muia, winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, and learn how authors immerse their readers in landscapes that move, breathe, and have agency.

Integrated Learning Center Room 125AB (Seats 40, Wheelchair accessible)  
Sun, Mar 15, 1:00 pm - 1:55 pm
Fiction / Literature

Panelist: A. Muia
Sponsor: Session made possible courtesy of Words, Women, and Wine Book Club

Book:

A Desert Between Two Seas

A Novel in Stories
Southwest Books of the Year
University of Georgia Press
September 2025
ISBN 9780820374383
248 pages
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