Melissa Llanes-Brownlee
Melissa Llanes Brownlee is a Native Hawaiian writer currently living in Japan where she teaches English at a junior high school. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Creative Writing and Linguistics from Boise State University and her Master's degree in Fine Arts in Fiction from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals and magazines, in print and online, including Baltimore Review, Booth: A Journal, The Notre Dame Review, Pleiades, The Citron Review, The SFWP Quarterly, Waxwing, Milk Candy Review, Claw & Blossom, (mac)ro(mic), 3Elements, Necessary Fiction and elsewhere. She was a finalist for the 2018 New American Fiction Prize and the 2019 Brighthorse Prize. She was nominated for Best Microfiction and selected for Best Small Fictions 2021.
Melissa Llanes Brownlee’s debut collection of a dozen stories is at once exotic and familiar, identifiable and personal. Llanes Brownlee immerses readers in the lives and backdrop of her characters with an often-poignant and always-believable voice. From the titular “Hard Skin” to stories like “Pele’s Daughter,” “Any Kine Boy,” and “Talking Story about Kilauea,” each one is like listening to a master storyteller sharing stories. Cultural aspects, family connections and sensory details shine under Llanes Brownlee’s hand with a lyricism that is infused throughout. The powerful closing line looks forward: “I pick up my pencil and trace it over and over, making a space for myself.” It becomes the culmination of the characters’ and Llanes Brownlee’s life journey through the creation of a well-deserved space for herself and these memorable stories. Amy Cipolla Barnes, author of Mother Figures and Ambrotypes