Kendra Atleework

Kendra Atleework was born and raised on the dry edge of California at the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada mountains. She moved away for a decade, mostly spent being homesick and researching the place she left behind—the product of which is her first book, Miracle Country, winner of the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award, the 2021 Women Writing the West WILLA Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction, and 2021 pick for Nevada’s statewide books club, Nevada Reads. Kendra holds an MFA in writing from the University of Minnesota. She has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, the Anderson Center, and the Minnesota State Arts Board. Her writing has appeared in Best American Essays, The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere. She is a recipient of the Ellen Meloy Fund for Desert Writers Award and lives in her hometown of Bishop, California, where she can be found roaming the mountains and desert and growing a big garden.