Mairead Small Staid is the author of The Traces (A Strange Object/Deep Vellum, 2022), a finalist for the inaugural Pattis Family Foundation Creative Arts Book Award. Born and raised in Massachusetts, she is a graduate of Pomona College and the University of Michigan, where she won Hopwood Awards in poetry and nonfiction. She has received fellowships from MacDowell, the Minnesota State Arts Board, and Phillips Exeter Academy, where she was the 2017-2018 George Bennett Fellow. Her work has been published by The Atlantic, The Believer, and The Paris Review, among others. She lives in Minnesota.

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A postscript for event organizers: ‘Mairead’ rhymes with ‘parade.’