JOY DEVA BAGLIO • WRITER
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"['They Could Have Been Yours'] is the kind of short story that makes me want to jump onto my desk and shout: The American short story is alive and well!"
     - Speer Morgan, Editor of The Missouri Review (Read as a reprint in Apex)

About

JOY DEVA BAGLIO (DAY - vuh | BAH - lee - oh) is a speculative/literary fiction writer (Leo Sun / Scorpio rising) living in Northampton, MA. Her short fiction has appeared widely in such journals as Ploughshares,​ The Missouri Review, ​Tin House, ​American Short Fiction, Conjunctions, Apex, The Iowa Review, ​SmokeLong Quarterly, Fairy Tale Review, among others, and is forthcoming in One Story. ​Two stories have been optioned for film/TV. A Bread Loaf and Sewanee Scholar, other honors include residencies and fellowships from Yaddo, Ragdale, Vermont Studio Center, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Speculative Literature Foundation, and The Kerouac Project, where she was the spring 2023 writer-in-residence living and writing in Jack Kerouac's Orlando bungalow. Joy holds an MFA from The New School and is the founder of the literary arts organization Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop, based in Northampton MA (and virtually). She is at work on a genre-bending collection of short stories, two novels, and a screenplay and is represented by  Peter Steinberg at United Talent Agency (UTA) and Sean Daily (for film/TV). Follow her on Bluesky (@joybaglio.bsky.social), X/Twitter (@JoyBaglio), Instagram (@joydevabaglio), & Substack. Longer bio / artist statement here.
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Upcoming & Recent News

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March 12, 2025 (at 6 - 8pm): Readers & Writers Live
Writers Allegra Hyde and Joy Deva Baglio will read and discuss their work as part of the Readers & Writers Live series, at Forbes Library in Northampton MA (in the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Museum) Learn More | Link to recording​

February, 2025:
"We Are Sorry For Your Suffering" - which placed 3rd in the 2023 Zoetrope: All-Story Short Fiction Contest - is forthcoming in One Story!

November, 2024: Joy's short story "Frog Heart" (Ploughshares, 2024) is nominated for a 2025 Pushcart Prize!  

October, 2024: Joy's short story "The Wolf" is in the October issue of Ghost Parachute, with original art!

July, 2024: Joy's short story "Frog Heart" is in the summer 2024 issue of Ploughshares, ​guest edited by Rebecca Makkai!

July, 2024: Joy was interviewed by Montanna Harling for F(r)iction Series, on speculative fiction, through the lens of her stories! ​Read Here

July, 2024: Joy was a writer-in-residence at Rainbow Lake, in the Adirondacks (in New York State), a new residency hosted by the Adirondack Center for Writing. 

June, 2024: Joy's (very) short story "Before" (published in the Fairy Tale Review) was performed in a dramatic, spoken word reading (The Story Cafe). The event was created and hosted by esteemed actors Candace Barrett Birk and Raye Birk.
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December 23, 2023:
Joy was awarded third place in the 2023 Zoetrope All Story Short Fiction Contest, out of nearly 2000 entries, by guest judge Jamil Jan Kochai.
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On the 2024 AWP Panel "What Exactly Do You Do?" Jobs As Guides Into Our Characters' Worlds, with Tim Horvath, Sequoia Nagamatsu, and Rebecca Makkai.
With fellow panelists Rebecca Makkai, Sequoia Nagamatsu, and Tim Horvath at the 2024 AWP Conference in Kansas City, MO
In residency at Ragdale Foundation (August 2023)
Final reading at The Kerouac House, in Orlando, Florida, at the end of a three-month residency through The Kerouac Project (May 2023)
Moderating the AWP 2023 panel Ghosts, Portals, & Other Worlds: The Surreal in Contemporary Fiction (with Matthew Lansburgh, Laura van den Berg, Jennifer Pullen, and Kevin Brockmeier)
Moderating the AWP 2022 panel, The Literary Ghost Story (with Sequoia Nagamatsu, Amber Sparks, and Yohanca Delgado)
In residency at Yaddo (September 2019)
Bread Loaf Scholar's Reading (August 2019)
Reading at Vermont Studio Center (November 2019)
Yaddo (September 2019)
Hosting a reading at Yaddo (September 2019)
Teaching at Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop, founded by Joy in 2016

Selected Short Stories


  • "Frog Heart" in Ploughshares (Summer 2024) | Guest Edited by Rebecca Makkai **Nominated for a 2025 Pushcart Prize **

  • "They Could Have Been Yours" in Apex Magazine (Spring 2023 | First published in The Missouri Review, ​Spring, 2022) **Optioned for film**
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  • "Speech Lessons" in Ghost Parachute (April, 2023)
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  • ​"Box of Ghosts" in The Bureau Dispatch (Fall, 2022)

  • "Before" in The Fairy Tale Review (spring, 2022)

  • "The Jackal" in Conjunctions  (October 2021) - Spanish translation by Manuel Calvillo de la Garzo, at Leer Mas Cuentos

  • "House of Stars" in Gulf Coast (Sumer/Fall, 2020)

  • "Belly of the Beast" in American Short Fiction (November 2019)​
  • "Ron” in Tin House (Spring 2018 Candy Issue)
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  • “How to Survive on Land” in New Ohio Review (2016
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Visit "Short Stories" Page
for complete list of published works, with excerpts, audio recordings, & videos

Substack / Craft Newsletter ​​

Welcome! Alone in a Room is my monthly writing newsletter/Substack, featuring craft musings, original writing prompts, what I'm reading and thinking about, upcoming events, and general inspirational/literary goodness! It's free to subscribe, and you'll receive the latest issue delivered direct to your inbox! (If you don't see it, make sure to check spam & promotions folders.) ​​​
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Why Alone in a Room? Read first post
Read Full News / Updates

Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop

In 2016, Joy founded Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop, a literary arts organization and community based in the Pioneer Valley of Western MA / Northampton MA (now completely virtual) - offering a changing schedule of writing workshops in all genres, literary readings & events, manuscript consulting services, and a 10-Long Manuscript Program. PVWW now has over thirty author-instructors teaching virtually, as well as close to a hundred workshops and classes each year. It welcomes writers of all levels and genres. Joy leads a monthly generative Community Writing gathering (live via Zoom) that's free to attend. 
Visit PVWW Online
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​- Connect -

- Upcoming Events -

​​​March 12, 2025 (at 6 - 8pm): Readers & Writers Live
Writers Allegra Hyde and Joy Deva Baglio will read and discuss their work as part of the Readers & Writers Live series, at Forbes Library in Northampton MA (in the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Museum)
Link to recording
​​​

- Alone in a Room: Newsletter -

Welcome! Alone in a Room is my monthly writing newsletter, featuring craft musings, original writing prompts, what I'm reading and thinking about, upcoming events, and general inspirational/literary goodness!  Visit Alone in A Room Page / First Post!​​
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  • About
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