Antonia Angress
Photo by Dena Denny
Bio
Antonia Angress’s debut novel, Sirens & Muses (Ballantine/Random House, 2022), was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award and was named a best book of the year by Glamour magazine. Her essays and fiction can be found in Joyland, Electric Literature, Literary Hub, Poets & Writers, and elsewhere. In addition to the National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship, she has received support for her work from the Minnesota State Arts Board. She holds a BA in comparative literature from Brown University and an MFA in fiction from the University of Minnesota. Born in Los Angeles and raised in Costa Rica, she lives in Minneapolis with her family.
When I received the call informing me that I had been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, I was six months pregnant with my first child, knee-deep in revisions on my second novel, and consumed with worries about the future. Once my initial elation and disbelief had worn off, I felt a great weight lift from my shoulders. Even amidst the huge life changes coming my way, the NEA Literature Fellowship will give me financial security, sustained time to focus on my novel-in-progress, and the freedom to immerse myself in the work I love. I am so grateful for this support, this vote of confidence. What an honor. What a tremendous gift.