TAMARA AVILA GUIRADO was born close enough to Disneyland to see the fireworks. Her short story "Dog Children" was included in Best New American Voices 2005 and her short story "Above Asmara" won a Robie McCauley Award from StoryQuarterly and was subsequently included as a Special Mention in the 2009 Pushcart Prize Anthology.  She was awarded a Wallace Stegner Fiction Fellowship at Stanford University, a Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin, and a Sacatar Foundation Fellowship in Bahia, Brazil. She has taught fiction and creative nonfiction for over ten years in universities, caves, and seedy motels. She holds an M.F.A. from Mills College in Oakland, CA.

Inspired by her own humbling creative path, she developed a keen interest in the creative process and has researched, practiced, and distilled powerful techniques for her students.  She currently teaches creative writing workshops in San Diego, Cardiff, Encinitas, Leucadia, and La Jolla. Tamara also provides coaching, consulting, and energy shifting services to both new and established fiction and creative nonfiction writers, online and in person. She specializes in assisting writers to release blocks and tap into their creative flow. For more information on her energy work, please visit writingthelight.com.