Author, Writer, Blogger, Mixed Media Crafter

Born in the Philippines. Adopted in the United States. Teaching and supporting schools & libraries in Arizona, Hawaii & Indiana. Favorite things: meditation, nature, art and journaling.

Biography

Stephanie Flood {birth name: Desiree Maru} was born in poverty in Cebu City, Philippines and adopted in the United States at the age of two. She has a background in creative writing, mixed media and photography. She hails with a Master of Library and Information Science, a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, and Bachelor of Science in Journalism. As a Pushcart Prize Nominee (2015), her fiction stories, mixed media art and creative nonfiction essays have been in numerous literary magazines and journals since 2015. Mixed media art has been featured at adoptee conferences, literary magazines and blogs. Additionally, she published the first-of-its-kind hybrid mixed media thesis in her MFA Creative Writing Program in Northern Arizona University, where she used visuals and epistolary literary methods to amplify her storytelling. Stephanie has been an active community member of InterCountry Adoptee Voices (ICAV), a critical ICAV blogger and social media activist supporting Intercountry adoptee voices since 2017. Additionally, alongside working in libraries, she has been a teacher. Recently in 2022, Stephanie published her first middle school literary magazine titled, My Hawaiian Identity, in a premier Creative Writing summer school course that she built & taught with Kamehameha Schools in Honolulu, Hawaii. 

Credits

Essays: AGNI {upcoming}, Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, The Writing Disorder, Journey Magazine, Hole in The Donut Cultural Travel

Mixed Media: Nzuir: The Online Journal of Umoja Community, Oyster River Pages, The Tishman Review, Helen Literary Magazine, The Sonder Review, Storm Cellar, The Healing Muse

Fiction: Third Flatiron Anthologies, The Story Shack, On the Rusk, Gone Lawn Journal

Published Anthology: Third Flatiron's Best of 2015 Anthology, Book 14

Nonfiction: The Flagstaff Live, The Noise, The Daily Sun, Mountain Living Magazine

Adoptee Media: Adoptee Voices, InterCountry Adoptee Voices (ICAV), Overcoming Odds, AdopTree Project: Exploring Asian Adoption Narratives, The Write Place at the Write Time

News Updates

Meet Num

Stephanie recently started sponsoring Num, a child from Bhutan, with Save the Children. Learn about her here.

Steph's Digital Diary

Follow Stephanie's daily life, projects and meditations at her digital Instagram diary @starwoodletters.

Upcoming Essay

Stephanie will soon have a creative essay featured in an upcoming issue in AGNI this September.