A. J. Bermudez

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A. J. Bermudez
A.J. Bermudez at Sundance Film Festival.png
BornAmanda J. Bermudez
OccupationWriter
GenreScreenwriting, fiction, short fiction
Notable works My Dead Friend Zoe , iCON, Nightingale, Stories No One Hopes Are About Them
Notable awards PAGE International Screenwriting Award, Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize, Iowa Short Fiction Award
Website
amandajbermudez.com

A. J. Bermudez is an American author and screenwriter. Her short fiction and screenwriting have won a number of awards, including the PAGE International Screenwriting Award (iCON, 2021), [1] [2] the Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize ("The Lady Will Pay for Everything", 2021), [3] and the Iowa Short Fiction Award (Stories No One Hopes Are About Them, University of Iowa Press, 2022). [4] Her films have been produced in the U.S. and internationally, [5] and her literary writing has appeared in McSweeney's , [2] Virginia Quarterly Review , [6] Story , [7] Chicago Review , [8] The Masters Review , [9] Fiction International , [10] Electric Literature , [11] Boulevard , [12] Creative Nonfiction , [13] and elsewhere.

Contents

Personal life

Bermudez grew up in various parts of the United States, and after graduating high school at age 16, she moved to Russia, where she worked as a music translator and with the Afghan refugee population in Moscow. [14] [15] Prior to screenwriting, Bermudez worked as an EMT. [14] [16]

In interviews, Bermudez has talked about the loss of her parents at a young age, and has described "writing, like mourning, [as] a constant negotiation between the political and the personal." [17] [18]

Career

Bermudez has been a vocal advocate of social justice and the arts. [19] In 2019, she was named one of the Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch by the International Screenwriters Association. [20] Her debut book was called a "must-read" by Publishers Weekly [21] and was described by Anthony Marra as "an absolutely brilliant collection, so of the moment formally and politically yet timeless in its pursuit of human contradiction." [22]

Bermudez was announced as Co-Editor of The Maine Review in January 2022, and currently serves as Editor. [23] [24] As a writer, Bermudez's work has been noted to focus on "intersections of power, privilege, and place," with characters who subvert traditional ideas of literary protagonists. [25] [26]

In 2022, Bermudez was one of the inaugural residents artists of the Nawat Fes Residency in Fez, Morocco. [27] [28] [29]

Bermudez co-wrote the film My Dead Friend Zoe, which premiered at South by Southwest in 2024, with director Kyle Hausmann-Stokes.

Awards and honors

YearWorkAccoladeResultRef
2024 My Dead Friend Zoe South by Southwest Narrative Spotlight AwardWinner [30]
2023Stories No One Hopes Are About Them Lambda Literary Award Finalist [31] [32]
2023"The Real India" Pushcart Prize Winner [33]
2023SelfSteinbeck FellowshipWinner [34]
2023"Picking the Wound"Best Small FictionsNominee [35]
2022Stories No One Hopes Are About Them Iowa Short Fiction Award Winner [4]
2022Stories No One Hopes Are About Them The Story Prize Nominee [36]
2021iCON PAGE International Screenwriting Award Winner [1]
2021"The Lady Will Pay for Everything" Alpine Fellowship Writing PrizeWinner [3]
2021"Obscure Trivia of the Antarctic" Pushcart Prize Nominee [37]
2021"Octopus"Adina Talve-Goodman FellowshipFinalist [7]
2020SelfSmokeLong Fellowship for Emerging WritersFinalist [38]
2019SelfTop 25 Screenwriters to WatchSelection [20]
2018NightingaleBest 60-Minute TeleplayWinner [39]
2018NightingaleEmerging Screenwriters AwardWinner [40]
2017The Face of the EarthDiverse Voices AwardWinner [41]

Bibliography

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