Kendra Atleework 

Kendra Atleework is the author of Miracle Country, a memoir mapping the intersection of family, history, and landscape in California, published by Algonquin Books. Miracle Country won the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award, the Women Writing the West WILLA Literary Award in Creative Nonfiction, and was the 2021 pick for Nevada’s statewide books club, Nevada Reads.

Kendra grew up in the high desert of the Eastern Sierra Nevada. Ellen’s writing helped her survive her homesickness while she was living in the wet, green Midwest. Her dreams came true when she received the 2016 Ellen Meloy Desert Writer’s Award, which helped her complete Miracle Country. Kendra has an MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of Minnesota. Her writing has appeared in Best American Essays, The Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. She lives in her hometown of Bishop, California.