Valya Dudycz Lupescu is a writer, poet, and editor living in Chicago. She is the author of the The Silence of Trees, a magical realism novel drawing upon Ukrainian folklore and history, as well as co-author of the nonfiction books Geek Parenting and Forking Good. The first volume of her new graphic novel trilogy, Mother Christmas, was published by Rosarium Publishing in 2022. Valya earned her M.F.A. in writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and her work has been published in The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Kenyon Review, Gone Lawn, Jersey Devil Press, Strange Horizons, Mythic Delirium, and others. She is the founding editor of Conclave: A Journal of Character and co-founder of the Wyrd Words Storytelling Workshop. Valya has been making magic with food and words for more than 30 years, incorporating traditions from her Ukrainian heritage with practices that honor the Earth.