About the Author
Clara Elena García is a Paraguayan poet and novelist based in Upstate New York. She currently serves as the educational director of an English academy for refugees and migrants in the Capital Region.
Clara has published two full length collections of poetry. The first, JUEGO DE PALABRAS, was published in 2023 by Valparaíso Ediciones and is available in Spain, Mexico, and Colombia. Her second book, SEVEN LEGENDARY MONSTERS, was published in Summer 2025 by Moonrise, an imprint of Revolutionaries Press in Australia, and has been nominated for the 2026 Elgin Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry. Her third book, THE SONG OF YRASEMA, is forthcoming in Spring 2027 from Revolutionaries Press.
Clara’s poetry has been published in the Acentos Review, Alebrijes Review, Axon Journal, Cuéntame Literary Magazine, and Sonic Boom Journal. She also has work in anthologies from Macmillan, Artepoética Press, Flowersong Press, End of the World Publishing, and Band of Bards Comics.
Clara began writing poetry as a teenager, attending the prestigious Bread Loaf Young Writers Institute at Middlebury College at the age of thirteen. She has been in love with the written word ever since. Her poetry spans years and experiences and covers topics such as mental health, belonging, romance, and the metaphysical.
Clara was selected to represent Paraguay in the 2023 Americas Poetry Festival of New York, hosted by the Cervantes Institute of New York and the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association, as well as the 2026 Berlin Poetry Festival, Europe's largest annual poetry festival, hosted by Haus fur Poesie.
She was also invited to present her Spanish-language debut at the 2025 New York State Writer's Institute Book Fair, the Hispanic/Latino Book Fair in Queens, The Philadelphia Latino Book Fair, the Connecticut Book Festival, the Springfield Latino Arts Festival, and the 2025 IberoAmerican Poetry Summit at Barnard College.
Clara appeared as a featured poet at the Bowery Poetry Club in March 2024. She was also invited to speak alongside renowned author Rigoberto Gonzalez and award-winning writer and translator Alexis Romay in the famous “Open Book, Open Mind” series to discuss the importance of Spanish-language poetry. She has been a frequent guest on several talk radio shows in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan areas and has been featured in articles in The Horror Writer's Association's blog, the Asunción Times, and Somos Berkshires Magazine.
She is currently working on her first children’s book as well as a forthcoming YA indigenous fantasy novel-in-verse, both based on Paraguayan folklore.