Visiting Writer: Ashleigh Bell Pedersen

*Born and raised in Virginia, Ashleigh holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Pittsburgh and a BA from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Ashleigh’s fiction has appeared in The Iowa Review, The Kenyon Review, and New Stories from the South, and has been shortlisted for a Pushcart Prize and Best American Short Stories. Her short story “Crocodile” won the 2020 Masters Review Flash Fiction Contest. Her writing is represented by Jon Curzon at Artellus Ltd, and her novel The Crocodile Bride debuts on Hub City Press in May 2022. Ashleigh is also an actress, a sometimes-painter, and a cancer survivor still searching for truthful ways to express that experience—not least of which have included acting, painting, and (of course) writing.

Ashleigh lives in Brooklyn, NY, with Ernie, her sweet pitbull mix.*