A. Muia is the author of A Desert Between Two Seas (University of Georgia Press), a novel in linked stories set in 19th-century Baja California, Mexico. The novel won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, was a finalist for the Iowa Short Fiction Award, and is a 2026 Top Pick for the Southwest Books of the Year. Her stories and articles have appeared in literary journals across the U.S. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Seattle Pacific University and facilitates writing workshops with youth in juvenile detention through Underground Writing. She co- founded New Earth Recovery, a nonprofit providing a residential program to those recovering from substance use disorder. For many years she worked as an advocate for immigrant farm workers in Skagit Valley, Washington