“Writing is how I practice empathy: When I write I move from examining the material present of scene towards excavating the more abstract shadows of history and character. Always, I’m interested in the power and illusions of gender, the vulnerability that comes with sadness, the redemptive potential of kindness, and the surprising ways paying attention can change everything.”

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Maria Brandt has published short-fiction and nonfiction in Santa Fe Quarterly, Arts & Letters, Coal Hill Review, VIDA, and Cleaver, among others. Her collection New York Plays was produced by Out of Pocket Theatre and published by Heartland Plays, her novella All the Words won the Grassic Short Novel Prize, and her full-length play Swans premiered at Geva Theatre Center’s Fielding Stage, co-produced by Method Machine and Straw Mat Writers. Currently, Maria is finishing her first short-fiction collection, developing several longer plays, and revising her first novel. She is an active member of Straw Mat Writers, Rochester Playwrights Group, Queen City Playwrights, and the Dramatists Guild. Maria teaches Creative Writing at Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York.

mbrandt@monroecc.edu
@mbrandtmbrandt
Maria Frances Brandt

                 

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