about – Adriana E. Ramírez

Long Bio

Adriana E. Ramírez is an American writer, critic, and poet of Mexican-Colombian descent based in Pittsburgh.

She is the author of The Violence: My Family’s Colombian War (Scribner, 2026), chronicling Colombia’s turbulent 20th Century through the lens of her grandmother’s family, which the New York Times called “a story of betrayal worthy of Elena Ferrante, and as Ramírez tells it, she deftly shows us her grandmother’s rage and her resolve.”

Her writing has also appeared in The Atlantic, the Boston Globe, ESPN’s The Undefeated (now Andscape), People Magazine, the Los Angeles Review of Books,Literary Hub, Guernica/PENAmerica, Convolution, HEArt, Apogee, Nerve, and elsewhere. Her poetry and prose have been translated in Spanish and Flemish. Two of her essays have been selected as “Notable” in the Best American Essays series.

She’s the winner of the 2015 PEN/Fusion Emerging Writer’s Prize, which is given to recognize a promising writer under age 35 for an unpublished work of nonfiction that addresses a global or multicultural issue, for her nonfiction novella, Dead Boys (Little A, 2016).

From 2022-2026, Ramírez worked as an award-winning columnist and critic, as well as editor of InReview and member of the editorial board for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Ramírez’s commentary, editorial writing, and arts criticism work at the Post-Gazette won awards and recognition from the Society for Features Journalism, the Society for Professional Journalists Keystone Chapter, the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation, and the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania.

From 2016-2020, she served as “Critic At Large” for the Los Angeles Times‘ Book Section, where she wrote book reviews and essays on all things literary.

In 2017, she received the City of Asylum Pittsburgh Prize/PASSA PORTA Residency in Brussels, Belgium. In 2019, she was awarded both an Investing in Local Artists grant and the prestigious Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Award for an Established Artist by the Pittsburgh Foundation and the Heinz Endowments.

She is the author of two small-press poetry chapbooks—The Swallows (self-published in 2012—reissued by Blue Sketch Press in 2016) and Trusting in Imaginary Spaces (Tired Hearts Press, 2010). She served as the nonfiction editor of DISMANTLE (Thread Makes Blanket Press, 2014), an anthology celebrating the VONA/Voices workshop. With Jesse Welch, she co-edited In the Shadow of the Mic: Three Decades of Slam Poetry in Pittsburgh (Bridge & Tunnel Books, 2020).

Ramírez co-founded Aster(ix) Journal in 2013 with novelist Angie Cruz. Aster(ix) is a literary arts journal dedicated to social justice, as well as giving voice to the censored and the marginalized. From 2021-2022, she co-hosted the podcast Charla Cultural with Karla Lamb, produced by City of Asylum and Aster(ix) Journal.

Once a nationally ranked slam poet and poetry slam tournament director, she co-founded the Pittsburgh Poetry Collective (home of the Steel City Slam). After leaving the PPC in 2016, she founded the infamous Nasty Slam. She was featured in the 2014 Legends of Poetry Slam Showcase and TEDxHouston 2013, as well as the 2016 Three Rivers Arts Festival. In 2017, she performed as a featured storyteller for the Moth’s Mainstage show in Pittsburgh.

Born in Mexico City, Ramírez grew up in McAllen, TX and is a graduate of both Rice University (B.A. English) and the University of Pittsburgh (MFA in Nonfiction Writing). She went on to teach at the University of Pittsburgh as a lecturer and visiting lecturer in the writing program for almost a decade. Ramírez has taught in the MFA low-residency programs at Carlow University and Chatham University.

She is VONA and National Hispanic Institute alum, a perpetually-disappointed fan of Mexican soccer, and a lover of large bodies of water. She is Jewish and an omnivore. She once lost terribly on Jeopardy!

She currently lives in Pittsburgh with her husband, two children, and a dog whose name translates to “suitcase.” She’s enjoys vegetable gardening, planning bike rides that never happen, and collecting Funko Pop figurines. She’ll rarely say no to a taco—or a margarita.

Medium Bio

Adriana E. Ramírez is the author of The Violence: My Family’s Colombian War (Scribner, 2026) and The Swallows: Poems (Blue Sketch Press, 2016). She won the inaugural PEN/Fusion Emerging Writers Prize in 2015 for her novella-length work of nonfiction, Dead Boys (Little A, 2016). Her commentary and criticism have also appeared in The Atlantic, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, ESPN’s The Undefeated, Los Angeles Review of Books, Guernica/PEN America, and Literary Hub among others. She once reviewed books for People Magazine. Once a nationally ranked slam poet, she founded the infamous Nasty Slam in Pittsburgh and continues to perform on stages around the country. She and novelist Angie Cruz founded Aster(ix) Journal, a literary journal giving voice to the censored and the marginalized.

Short Bio

Adriana E. Ramírez is a writer, critic, and poet based in Pittsburgh. She is the author of The Violence: My Family’s Colombian War (Scribner, 2026), the 2015 PEN/Fusion Emerging Writer’s Prize-winning Dead Boys (Little A, 2016), and The Swallows: Poems (Blue Sketch Press, 2016). Ramírez is also a former critic-at-large for the Los Angeles Times’s Book Section and the former columnist and books editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She is the cofounder of Aster(ix) Journal with Angie Cruz. Her writing has also appeared in the Atlantic, the Boston Globe, People Magazine, and elsewhere. She once lost terribly on Jeopardy!.

Shorter Bio

Adriana E. Ramírez is an award-winning nonfiction writer, critic, and poet based in Pittsburgh. She is the author of The Violence: My Family’s Colombian War (Scribner, 2026), Dead Boys (Little A, 2016) and The Swallows: Poems (Blue Sketch Press, 2016).

Shortest Bio

Adriana E. Ramírez is an award-winning writer based in Pittsburgh.

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