Biography

Maria Smilios is an award-winning author, keynote speaker, and adjunct lecturer at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. She was born and raised in New York City and holds a Master of Arts in American literature and religion from Boston University.
The Black Angels won the 2024 Christopher Award in literature, which celebrates works that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit." It was also a finalist for the Gotham Book Prize, an NASW Science in Society Journalism finalist, an NPR Science Friday Summer Read for 2024, and shortlisted for the English PEN literary award.