Lorena Hernández Leonard is a Latina writer born in Colombia whose work has been recognized in The Best American Essays Notable list, was a finalist for the PEN America Emerging Writer Fellowship and the CRAFT Creative Nonfiction Award. Her writing has appeared in KHÔRA, Tasteful Rude, WBUR’s Cognoscenti, Pathfinders Collective, Solstice, and elsewhere. Lorena has received support for her memoir, “Salsipuedes: Leave if You Can,” about growing up during the Colombian drug war and her forced immigration to the U.S. (for which she is seeking publication) as a Pauline Scheer fellow at GrubStreet Creative Writing Center, and by the Juniper Writing Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Tin House, Vermont Studio Center, and Anaphora Arts. Her storytelling was featured on WORLD Channel and PBS’s program “Stories from the Stage,” and she is co-producer of the award-winning animated short film, “Demi’s Panic,” which was longlisted for the 94th OSCARS.
