Ava Pauline Emilione (they/them) is a Brooklyn-born writer and editor. They write about culture and identity through a decolonial, queer, and sometimes surreal lens. Inspired by the natural world and their family’s oral storytelling tradition, they weave modern folklore about the people, phenomena, and communities—both human and non-human—that define their experiences in an increasingly strange world.
Their writing has been featured in Them, Salty, Fruitslice, Expat Press, The North Star with
Shaun King, and more. Ava is the founding Editor-in-Chief of Ebony Tomatoes
Collective, a literary magazine centering Black and queer writers. Ava is a 2025 PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow. They are currently working on their debut novel, centering queerness and environmental collapse.
When they are not writing, Ava puts their film degree to good use by creating video essays on YouTube, where they discuss culture, theory, and Black history.
Ava graduated cum laude from NYU in 2023 on a full-tuition, merit-based scholarship for first-generation college students. In all that they do, Ava advocates for Black, Indigenous, and queer liberation. They can be found reading, going to drag shows, gardening, or taking long walks through the woods and mountains.
AVA PAULINE EMILIONE 