Draft:Cynthia Pelayo 2

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Cynthia Pelayo
Born
Puerto Rico
OccupationAuthor, poet
NationalityAmerican (Puerto Rican origin)
Alma materSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago (MFA, Writing)
GenreHorror, crime fiction, poetry
Notable works
  • Crime Scene (2022)
  • Lotería (2023)
  • Forgotten Sisters (2024)
  • Vanishing Daughters (2025)
  • Children of Chicago (2021)
  • The Shoemaker’s Magician (2023)
  • Into the Forest and All the Way Through (2020)
Notable awards
  • Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection (2022) – Crime Scene
  • International Latino Book Award, Best Mystery (2021) – Children of Chicago
Website
www.cinapelayo.com

Cynthia Pelayo is an American author and poet of Puerto Rican descent. Her work blends horror, crime fiction, and poetry. She won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection for Crime Scene (2022), becoming the first Puerto Rican-born author and first Latina to win in that category.[1][2] Her works include the poetry collections Into the Forest and All the Way Through (2020) and Crime Scene (2022), the short story collection Lotería (2023), and the novels Children of Chicago (2021), The Shoemaker’s Magician (2023), Forgotten Sisters (2024), and Vanishing Daughters (2025).[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

Career

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Pelayo holds a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.[10][11] While at SAIC, she worked on what later became her short story collection Lotería.[12]

Her fiction and poetry often draw on folklore, urban legends, and crime narratives, with a particular focus on Chicago as both a setting and character.[13] Her work has been praised for intertwining horror traditions with detective fiction, especially in Children of Chicago, which reimagines Grimm fairy tales in the context of a modern serial killer investigation.[3]

Her poetry collection Into the Forest and All the Way Through (2020) explores true crime and the stories of missing and murdered women in the U.S. It was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection.[14]

Her subsequent collection, Crime Scene (2022), won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection, marking her as the first Puerto Rican-born and first Latina author to win that category.[1][2]

In 2023, she released both The Shoemaker’s Magician (a follow-up to Children of Chicago) and Lotería, a collection of 54 short stories inspired by the Mexican card game.[9]

Her later novels include Forgotten Sisters (2024) and Vanishing Daughters (2025).[7][8]

She is also co-publisher of Burial Day Books, a press dedicated to horror writing.[15]

Awards and recognition

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  • **Winner**, Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection (Crime Scene, 2022).[1]
  • **First Puerto Rican-born author** to win a Bram Stoker Award, and **first Latina** to win in the Poetry category.[2]
  • **Finalist**, Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection (Into the Forest and All the Way Through, 2020).[16]
  • **Finalist**, Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel (Children of Chicago, 2021).[17]
  • **Winner**, International Latino Book Award for Best Mystery (Children of Chicago, 2021).[6]
  • The Shoemaker’s Magician received a starred review in *Library Journal* (2023).[5]
  • Forgotten Sisters was reviewed in *Chicago Review of Books* (2024).[7]

Bibliography

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Novels

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  • *Children of Chicago*. Polis Books, 2021. ISBN 9781951709085.
  • *The Shoemaker’s Magician*. Agora/Polis Books, 2023. ISBN 9781957957039.
  • *Forgotten Sisters*. Thomas & Mercer, 2024. ISBN 9781662513923.
  • *Vanishing Daughters*. Thomas & Mercer, 2025. ISBN 9781662513930.

Poetry / Verse Narratives

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  • *Into the Forest and All the Way Through*. Burial Day Books, 2020. ISBN 9780578703439.
  • *Crime Scene*. Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2022. ISBN 9781954899103.

Short Story Collections

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  • *Lotería*. Agora/Union Square & Co., 2023. ISBN 9781454961499.

Personal life

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Pelayo was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Chicago at age 2.[12] She lives in Chicago with her husband, Gerardo Pelayo, and their two children.[18]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Kraus and Pelayo Win Stoker Awards". HWA Chicago. 2023-06-17. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  2. ^ a b c "Iglesias, Pelayo Inject Historic Latin Flavor into Bram Stoker Awards". Lionel Ray Green. 2023-06-18. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  3. ^ a b "The Fairy Tales Are Murder: Cynthia Pelayo's Children of Chicago". Los Angeles Review of Books. 2021. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  4. ^ "The Shoemaker's Magician". Publishers Weekly. 2023. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  5. ^ a b "The Shoemaker's Magician (Starred Review)". Library Journal. 2023. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  6. ^ a b "Cynthia Pelayo". San Antonio Book Festival. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  7. ^ a b c "Checking out Historical Chicago: Cynthia Pelayo's Forgotten Sisters". Chicago Review of Books. 2024-03-20. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  8. ^ a b "Vanishing Daughters". Goodreads. 2025. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  9. ^ a b "Lotería by Cynthia Pelayo". Hachette/Union Square & Co. 2023. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  10. ^ "Feature Interview: Cynthia Pelayo". Nightmare Magazine. 2013. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  11. ^ "Alum Cynthia Pelayo Makes Marvel Comics Debut". School of the Art Institute of Chicago. 2022. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  12. ^ a b "Cynthia Pelayo on Grief, Mystery, and Chicago Ghost Stories". Chicago Magazine. 2025-03-11. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  13. ^ "Interview: Cynthia Pelayo on Horror, Crime, and Chicago". Chicago Review of Books. 2025-01-31. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  14. ^ "Here are the finalists for the 2020 Bram Stoker Award". LitHub. 2021-02-22. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  15. ^ "About Burial Day Books". Burial Day Books. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  16. ^ "Here are the finalists for the 2020 Bram Stoker Award". LitHub. 2021-02-22. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  17. ^ "HWA Announcements: Bram Stoker Awards Finalists". Horror Writers Association. 2021. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  18. ^ "Women in Horror Interview with Cynthia Pelayo". Horror Writers Association. 2013. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
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