The daughter of a Black American father and Puerto Rican mother, Dr. McCauley’s creative and scholarly work centers on self-determination, identity, Afro-Latinidad, cultural clashes and belonging. She enjoys reading, taking beach walks, dancing, watching 90s anime, eating macaroni and cheese and sitting under trees. She is the author of the hybrid collection SCAR ON/SCAR OFF, the short story collection WHEN TRYING TO RETURN HOME and the poetry collection KINDS OF GRACE (Spring 2024). She lives and writes in Houston, TX.

Short Bio for media purposes:

Jennifer Maritza McCauley is the author of the cross-genre collection Scar On/Scar Off which received an IPPY award and When Trying to Return Home, a short story collection, which was a New York Times Editors' Choice, called one of the Best Fiction Books of the Year according to Kirkus Reviews, a Must-Read of 2023 by Chicago Public Library and a Most Anticipated by Today. She has been granted fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Kimbilio and CantoMundo. She teaches at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (Fall ‘24) and is fiction editor at Pleiades.