Cynthia Pelayo is a Bram Stoker Award winning and International Latino Book Award winning author and poet. She is the first Latina in history to win a Bram Stoker Award. Pelayo writes fairy tales that blend genre and explore concepts of grief, mourning, and cycles of violence. She is the author of Loteria, Santa Muerte, The Missing, Poems of My Night, Into the Forest and All the Way Through, Children of Chicago, Crime Scene, The Shoemaker’s Magician, Forgotten Sisters, as well as dozens of standalone short stories and poems.

Lotería, which was her MFA in Writing thesis at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, was re-released to praise with Esquire calling it one of the ‘Best Horror Books of 2023.’ Santa Muerte and The Missing, her young adult horror novels were each nominated for International Latino Book Awards. Poems of My Night was nominated for an Elgin Award. Into the Forest and All the Way Through was nominated for an Elgin Award and was also nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection. Children of Chicago was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award in Superior Achievement in a Novel and won an International Latino Book Award for Best Mystery. Crime Scene won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection. The Shoemaker’s Magician was released to praise with Library Journal awarding it a starred review. Forgotten Sisters received a starred review in Library Journal.

In addition to a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Pelayo also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Columbia College Chicago, a Master of Science from Roosevelt University in Chicago, and she is currently pursuing a PhD in English.

Her recent novel, Vanishing Daughters, by Thomas and Mercer is influenced by Charles Perrault’s “The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood.”

Her works have been reviewed in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, LA Review of Books, and more.

She is represented by Lane Heymont at Tobias Literary.