Azaria is a Creative Writing PhD student specializing in fiction. In a previous life, she was a nonprofit administrator and illustrator. She holds a B. A. in English from the University of Lynchburg and an M. F. A. from Butler University. She was a TED Residency Finalist in 2018 and a recipient of the MVICW Author Fellowship. In 2022, A. became a Kimbilio Fiction Fellow and she was the first place winner of the Plaza Prizes International Flash Fiction Contest. Her work has been published or is forthcoming in RueScribe, Entropy Magazine, Empyrean Literary Magazine, Revolution Publication, Honey Literary, Awake and Black Joy Unbound: An Anthology.
She is interested in writing about magical realism, speculative fiction, Gothic fiction, motherhood, addiction, how religion affects Black communities/families, and the implementation of pop culture (specifically television and film) in literature and pedagogy. She also puts together documentary style videos online about Black pop culture under the name Jane for Short.
Education
M.F.A., Butler University
B.A., University Lynchburg