Natalie Smith Parra

Natalie Smith Parra was a writer, teacher, and social justice activist. Her work appeared in Creative Nonfiction, Calyx, the Random House anthology Mommy Wars, Dove Tales Literary Journal and Dryland Literary Journal. In addition to her residency at the Mesa Refuge, she was awarded residencies at Hedgebrook and Dorland Mountain Arts Colony. She was also a recipient of a Barbara Deming Memorial Fund grant and a Puffin Artist’s Grant. She was born in Los Angeles, and until she became disabled from cancer, taught English and Spanish in high school there. She worked for Nevada CURE, a prisoner civil rights organization. She passed away in 2021.