Talent Guide

Maria Venegas

  • Discipline:Writer
  • Program Year:Episodic Lab 2020

Bio

Maria Venegas is the author of Bulletproof Vest published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2014. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Granta, The Guardian, New York Magazine, Ploughshares, and the L.A. Times. She currently teaches at Columbia University’s MFA Program and has taught creative writing at Wesleyan University and New York University. She lives in Brooklyn.

Current Project

Chavez Ravine

Logline

On her thirteenth birthday, Esperanza (Espy) Cortez discovers that she can time- travel through hidden portals in East LA where Tongva and Mexican predecessors reveal hidden secrets about her ancestors, her family, and herself. In present day, Espy confronts her family, challenges her community, and evolves from an immigrant daughter into a modern-day warrior, fighting for our future armed with wisdom from the past.