Writers - Surnames M

Yi-Hang Ma

Yi-Hang Ma, born in 1982, is an indigenous writer of Taiwan. His father is from the Kasavakan tribe in Taitung in eastern Taiwan. Once an editor of a literary magazine, he currently writes full-time. He holds a PhD in Taiwanese literature at National Taiwan University, with his dissertation on post-1949 Taiwanese fiction on wars. In his poem collection The Jewels I Carry with Me and essay collection The Languages from the Mountains/To Become Sandie, he, an indigenous gay man attentive to complicated identifications as shown in Taiwanese literature, tries to testify to his mind and to comment on the times with special sound effects and images.

Darlene Madott

Darlene Madott is the author of nine books, including Dying Times, Stations of the Heart and Making Olives and Other Family Secrets. She has twice won the Bressani Literary Award and has been shortlisted for the Vanderbilt-sponsored Carter V. Cooper EXILE editions award three times, and was shortlisted in 2023 for the inaugural Nona McDonald Heaslip Best Canadian Short Stories award. Her short fiction has garnered numerous literary awards and been widely anthologized, and has been a finalist in Accenti Magazine’s short-fiction competition, on several occasions, most recently in 2021. She is included in This Will Only Take a Minute (100 Canadian Flashes) Guernica, 2022. A lawyer who practised over three decades in Toronto, Darlene’s Dying Times, (EXILE editions, fall 2021) her eighth book, grows out of aspects of her legal background and is a fictional exploration of the last journey. Winners and Losers, her 9^th, also explores the journey of life and law, and was published by GUERNICA in spring, 2023. Winners and Losers was named The Miramichi Readers Best of 2023. Her 10^th book, Closing Ceremonies (Tales of Abandonment, Betrayal and Consequence), is forthcoming with GUERNICA in 2026.

For more about Darlene and purchase LINKs: https://www.DarleneMadott.com

Colleen Mayo

Colleen Mayo grew up in Austin, TX. After receiving her B.A. from Hendrix College in 2011, she went on to serve as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in South Korea. She later received her MFA in Creative Writing from Florida State University and her PhD in Creative Writing from the University of North Texas. Colleen's fiction and creative nonfiction appears in The Sun Magazine, Ninth Letter, Witness, The Baltimore Review, Salt Hill Journal, Hunger Mountain and elsewhere. Her work has received special mention for the 2019 Pushcart Prize for Nonfiction, the Jerome Stern Series Spotlight Award for Nonfiction, and an AWP Intro Journals Award for Fiction. She now lives in Little Rock, Arkansas and works as an Assistant Professor and Murphy Fellow in English at Hendrix College.

John McCluskey
John McCluskey, Jr. is Professor Emeritus of African American and African Diaspora Studies & English at Indiana University – Bloomington, where he taught fiction writing and literature. He is the author of two novels, Look What They Done to My Song and Mr. America’s Last Season Blues. His short fiction has appeared in numerous journals and collections, including Ploughshares, Brilliant Corners, Black Renaissance/Renaissance Noire, Ancestral House: The Black Short Story in the Americas and Europe, Best American Short Stories, Calling the Wind, and Chicago Quarterly Review. He has edited or co-edited three works of non-fiction including The Black Chicago Renaissance. As one of its founding co-editors, he is an Editor Emeritus of the “Blacks in the Diaspora” series at Indiana University Press, a project that has published some fifty titles in the humanities and social sciences. He currently serves as an associate editor at the journal, and Board member of the Callaloo Foundation and Toni Morrison Society. He is at work on a series of short stories, both historical and contemporary.

Laura McKenna

Laura McKenna writes poetry and fiction. Her debut novel, Words to Shape My Name (New Island, 2021) was a winner at the 2020 Novel Fair, and shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award. Laura has a PhD in creative writing from UCC. She is the recipient of Tyrone Guthrie, Cork County Council, John Montague Mentorship and Arts Council bursaries. Twice nominated for a Hennessy Literary Award, Laura was chosen for the 2021 Poetry Ireland Introductions Series. Her short fiction has been published in Banshee, Southword, and in the Litro Anthology of New Fiction. She co-edited Cork Stories anthology with Madeleine D’Arcy (Doire Press, 2024) and is currently working on her second novel and a poetry collection. Laura teaches Medical Humanities in University College Cork.

Alecia McKenzie

Alecia MCKENZIE is a Jamaican writer, editor and artist based in France. Her first collection of short stories, Satellite City, and her novel Sweetheart have both won Commonwealth literary prizes. Sweetheart has been translated into different languages including French (Trésor, translator S. Schler) and was awarded the 2017 Prix Carbet des lycéens. Her most recent novel, A Million Aunties, was longlisted for the 2022 Dublin Literary Award. She has edited two anthologies of short fiction, and, as a visual artist, has participated in exhibitions internationally. In 2024, she completed a two-year multimedia literary-historical project combining poetry, music, film and painting, before resuming work on her third collection of short stories.

Website: www.aleciamckenzie.com

Robin McLean
Robin McLean worked as a lawyer and then a potter in the woods of Alaska before turning to writing. Her first story collection Reptile House won the BOA Editions Fiction Prize and was noted as a best book of 2015 in Paris Review. Her debut novel Pity the Beast was noted as a best book of fiction of 2021 in The Guardian and Wall Street Journal, and long-listed for the Reading the West Prize. Her second story collection, Get'em Young, Treat'em Tough, Tell'em Nothing was an Editors' Choice in the NYTimes, and was longlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize.
She is currently the 2023 Visiting Writer in the MFA program at the University of Montana. When not wandering the American Mountain West, she's found in Canada on the edge of the Salish Sea.

Catherine McNamara

Catherine McNamara grew up in Sydney, ran away to Paris to write and ended up co-running a bar in Ghana, working in Mogadishu and Milan along the way. She is the author of the short fiction collections The Carnal Fugues, The Cartography of Others, Love Stories for Hectic People and Pelt and Other Stories, and her stories have been published widely. The Carnal Fugues is shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards 2024 (Australia). The Cartography of Others won the Eyelands International Fiction Award (Greece) and was finalist in the People’s Book Awards (UK). Love Stories for Hectic People won the Best Short Story Collection in the Saboteur Awards (UK) and Pelt and Other Stories was semi-finalist in the Hudson Prize (USA). She is Flash Fiction Editor and a Masterclass tutor for Litro Magazine, and was Guest Editor for the Best Small Fictions Anthology 2023. Catherine lives in Italy.

Rachel McPherson

Rachel McPherson grew up in Virginia and Iowa. She earned her undergraduate degree from Tufts University and her MA in Education from the University of Iowa. Rachel works as an educator and has taught writing workshops in a state prison, ESL at a community college, Shakespeare workshops in elementary and secondary schools, and Language Arts in Barcelona, Spain, where she lived for seven years. She has worked in literary translation, supporting several authors on short story translations, and co-produced her father’s non-fiction collection On Becoming an American Writer (Godine, 2023), the Spanish translation of Elbow Room (Consonni, 2022), and the upcoming Italian translation of Hue and Cry and Elbow Room. Currently, Rachel designs and teaches language courses for at-risk youth on Shakespeare and Hip-Hop, co-leads medical provider communication workshops at University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, and serves on the Iowa City Parks and Recreation Commission.

Paul McVeigh

Paul McVeigh, author of the novel, The Good Son, which was the winner of The Polari First Novel Prize as well as the winner of The McCrea Literary Award is noted as a writer, playwright and festival organizer. His works have been shortlisted for the Prix du Roman Cezam; shortlisted for The Authors Club Best First Novel Award; finalist for The People's Book Prize; and promoted for the City Reads Brighton choice 2016. His story "Hollow" was shortlisted for the 'Short Story of the Year' at The Irish Book Awards 2017. Additionally, Paul's collection of short stories commissioned by BBC Radio, I Hear You, is out with Salt Publishing, March 2025.

Born in Belfast, Paul McVeigh is an award-winning writer whose work has been performed on stage and radio, published in print and been translated into French, German, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Turkish. He began his career as a playwright before moving to London where he wrote comedy shows, which were performed at the Edinburgh Festival and in London’s West End. His short stories have been published in literary journals and anthologies, read on BBC Radio 5, commissioned by BBC Radio 3 and 4, and Sky Arts TV. He is the co-founder of London Short Story Festival, of which, he was the Director and Curator for 2014 & ’15. He is Associate Director at Word Factory, the UK’s premier short story salon. The Good Son was selected from 160 books by The British Council and The Literary Platform to be one of twelve that will be part of The UK-Russia Year of Language and Literature 2016. Paul has read his work at festivals around the world and he represented the UK in Mexico 2015 and Turkey 2016 for The British Council.

Lu Mei

Lu Mei is a children’s literature writer and works for Wenhui Daily under Shanghai United Media Group. She serves as a member of China Writers Association’s Literary Criticism Committee and a vice president of Bingxin Award Judging Committee. Specializing in youth literature and essays, she has published over 30 books, including Dreamer Lao Sheng’en, Free as a Butterfly, Endless Summer, Letters from Heaven, Hello, Childhood, Goodbye, Popona , and Kaleidoscope. Her awards include the National Outstanding Children’s Book Award, nomination for China Publishing Government Award, Chen Bochui International Children’s Literature Award, Bingxin Essay Award, Bingxin Children’s Book Award, China’s Golden Crown Children’s Book Award, and the First Dongwu Literature Award. Her works are featured in anthologies such as Anthology of Chinese New Literature: Children’s Literature (1977–2000) and have been listed among “100 Outstanding Books Recommended for Youth” by the National Press and Publication Administration. Her novel The Book of Time won 2014 German White Raven Award, while As the Leaves Fall was adapted into a film. The essay Goodbye, Popona was selected for Chinese Contemporary Works Translation Project. Her novel Kaleidoscope received 2023 China Good Books Award and the 17th National Spiritual Civilization Construction “National Five Top Project” Book Award. Some works have been translated into English, Thai, Arabic, and other languages.

Marianne Micros

MARIANNE MICROS was born in the small town of Cuba, New York, where her family owned an ice cream factory. She is proud of her Greek heritage and has travelled many times to Greece, renewing her family ties and her conversational Greek language. Marianne earned degrees at Sweet Briar College, St. Bonaventure University, and The University of Western Ontario. She moved to Canada in 1974 for Ph.D. studies, got married here, and never left. Her story collection Eye (Guernica, 2018), which explores mythology, folklore, and Greek customs, was one of five finalists for the 2019 Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction and was also shortlisted for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award in 2018. In 2023 she published the story collection Statue (Guernica, 2023), a collection of short fiction which includes stories of supernatural encounters of humans. Her previous publications include: a book of poetry about her Greek family, Upstairs Over the Ice Cream (1979); Seventeen Trees (2007); and poems and short fiction in anthologies and journals. She has published scholarly articles on Renaissance and contemporary subjects and a bibliographical monograph on Al Purdy (1980). Her suite of poems Demeter’s Daughters was shortlisted for the Gwendolyn MacEwen poetry competition in 2015 and published in Exile: The Literary Quarterly. After some forty-five years of teaching, Marianne has now retired from her career as an English professor at the University of Guelph, where she worked for thirty years. She is currently writing a book of stories about an uber-driving medium, while studying mediumship herself. Marianne also spends time enjoying her grandchildren, reading mysteries, and bellydancing. She still loves ice cream!

Carmelo Militano

Carmelo Militano is a writer, editor, radio broadcaster, and teacher. Militano is the author for three books of poetry and five books of prose. He is the winner of the F.G.Bressani award for poetry( Canada) and the San Bernnardo poetry prize( Italy). The Fate of Olives, a family memoir and Italian travelogue, was short listed for the Eileen Skyes first book award. Militano’s short story collection Lost Aria was short-listed for the Margaret Lawrence Fiction prize as well as his novella the following year, Sebastiano’s Vine. Militano worked as the host and producer of the popular P.I. New Poetry show ( CKUW, Winnipeg) from 2014-2018. His fiction, literary reviews, interviews, and essays have appeared in a wide range of journals in Canada, the USA, and the UK. Webpage: carmelomilitano.com

Michael Mirolla

The author of a clutch of published novels, plays, film scripts and short story and poetry collections, Michael Mirolla's publications include a novella, The Last News Vendor, winner of the 2020 Hamilton Literary Award, as well as three Bressani Prizes: the novel Berlin; the poetry collection The House on 14th Avenue; and the short story collection Lessons in Relationship Dyads. His latest poetry collection, At the End of the World, was short-listed for the 2022 Hamilton Literary Award and took second prize for the Di Cicco Poetry Award. His latest short story collection Becker’s World & Other Stories was published in the spring of 2024 (Black Moss Press). In the fall of 2019, Michael served a three-month writer’s residency at the Historic Joy Kogawa House in Vancouver where he worked on the first draft of a novel, The Second Law of Thermodynamics. A symposium on Michael’s writing was held in Toronto on May 25, 2023. In September of 2023, Michael took part in a writers’ residency in Olot, Catalonia. While there, he polished a novella, How About This …?, which is scheduled for publication in September 2025 (At Bay Press). In July 2024, Michael participated in a month-long writers’ residency in Barcelona. Apart from his writing, Michael is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Guernica Editions, a Canadian literary book publisher. Born in Italy and growing up in Montreal, with side trips to Glen Robertson (ON), Gboko (Nigeria), Mount Forest (ON), Toronto, Oakville and Hamilton, Michael now makes his home outside the town of Gananoque in the Thousand Islands area of Ontario.

Paula Morris

Paula Morris is an award-winning novelist, short story writer and essayist of Māori and English descent. Director of the Master of Creative Writing at the University of Auckland, she is the founder of the Academy of New Zealand Literature; Wharerangi, the Māori literature hub; and the online Aotearoa NZ Review of Books. She edited the anthologies A Clear Dawn: New Asian Voices from Aotearoa NZ (2021, with Alison Wong) and Hiwa: Contemporary Māori Short Stories (2023).

Ted Morrissey

Ted Morrissey's novel excerpts, short stories, poems, critical articles, reviews, and translations have appeared in more than 120 publications. His most recent books are the novel The Strophes of Job (2024), and Delta of Cassiopeia: Collected Stories and Sonnets (2023). Projects for 2025 include editing William H. Gass at 100: Essays, as well as working on a new novel and his never-ending efforts to translate the Old English poem Beowulf. Retired from full-time teaching, he continues to teach creative writing and literature courses for Lindenwood University and Southern New Hampshire University. He is the publisher of Twelve Winters Press and its various entities, including Twelve Winters Journal and the podcast A Lesson before Writing.

17th International Conference on the Short Story in English