Dara Yen Elerath is a mixed-race, Chinese-American writer, born in California and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is the author of Dark Braid (2020, BkMk Press), which won the John Ciardi Prize for Poetry and was longlisted for the Julie Suk Award. Her writing has appeared in Poetry, the American Poetry Review, AGNI, the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day series, High Country News, and elsewhere.
Dara recieved her BFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of New Mexico, and her MFA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. She is the recipient of a fellowship from the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, where she will be in residence in fall of 2024.
If you would like to get in touch, email her at daraelerath@gmail.com.