Arya Samuelson is a writer, editor, and teacher currently based in Northampton, MA. She was awarded New Ohio Review’s 2023 Non-Fiction Prize (judged by Barie Jean Borrich), the 2024 Lascaux Prize in Nonfiction, and CutBank’s Montana Prize in Non-Fiction (judged by Cheryl Strayed.)Her essay, “I Am No Beekeeper” was selected as Notable in Best American Essays 2024. Arya has been a semi-finalist for nonfiction contests by Black Warrior Review, CRAFT, Ninth Letter, and Sonora Review. Her work appears, or is forthcoming, in Fourth Genre,Bellevue Literary Review,Columbia Journal, New Delta Review, Gertrude, The Manifest-Station, Stone Pacific Zine, Half Mystic, The Millions, and the Brevity Blog.
Arya graduated from Mills College with an MFA in Prose and has attended residencies at VCCA, Vermont Studio Center, Byrdcliffe Woodstock, Sundress Academy for the Arts, Horned Dorset Colony, the Mark Baumer Sustainability Fund, and the Wassaic Project. She has studied at Lidia Yuknavitch’s online school of Corporeal Writing since 2017 and is proud to be part of the Corporeal Coven. Arya is currently working on a novel and a memoir in lyric essays.
In the past, Arya has worked as an advocate for domestic violence survivors, a Supportive Housing Specialist for homeless adults with mental illness, a coordinator at a synagogue, and a grant writer for documentaries and social justice organizations. She is on the Board of Directors for Perugia Press. When she isn’t writing or working, she is making herbal medicines, singing Eastern European choral music, or scouting adorable dogs. She is currently in training to become a Somatic Experiencing practitioner.
