Cynthia Pelayo

Cynthia Pelayo is a Puerto Rican-born American author, poet, and journalist whose work spans horror, crime fiction, and poetry. In 2022 she received the Bram Stoker Award for Crime Scene, and sources identify her as the first Puerto Rican and first Latina recipient of a Bram Stoker Award. While at SAIC, she developed work that later informed her short story collection Lotería.

Early in her career, Pelayo worked as a journalist for Chicago community outlets, including Time Out Chicago.

In 2025, Pelayo co-wrote the Marvel Comics one-shot White Tiger: Reborn, part of the Marvel Voices: Comunidades line, with a story illustrated by Moisés Hidalgo.

Also in 2026, Pelayo edited Something Followed Us Home: Tales of Latiné Horror (Atria/Primero Sueño Press, September 2026), an anthology of Latiné horror fiction in which she also appears as a contributor.

In 2025, Newcity included Pelayo on its Chicago Lit 50 list. She is co-publisher of Burial Day Books, a press focused on horror writing.

Essays and nonfiction 2021: "I Need to Believe" (Southwest Review 105.3) — nominated for the Bram Stoker Awards. 2021: "Fairy Tales Are Dark for a Reason — They're Trying to Warn Us About Danger" (CrimeReads). 2024: "How to Write Horror - With Cynthia Pelayo" (LitReactor). 2025: "Five SFF Books Set in Chicago" (Tor.com/Reactor). 2025: "Incorporating Nonfiction and True Crime Into a Genre Novel" (Writer's Digest). 2025: "Ghosts are not the Monsters: Murders, Apparitions, and Violence Against Women" (PEN America/PEN Ten).

Reception Children of Chicago (2021) was discussed by the Los Angeles Review of Books as blending crime fiction and dark fairy tales, Newcity Lit reviewed the novel in 2021.

The Shoemaker's Magician (2023) received a starred review from Library Journal

Forgotten Sisters (2024) was covered by the Chicago Review of Books

Vanishing Daughters (2025) was reviewed by Paste Magazine, Library Journal, and the Chicago Tribune.

Crime Scene (2022) was reviewed by Monster Librarian.

It Came from Neverland (2026) received starred reviews from Library Journal and Booklist.

In 2010, following the lapse of the Poe Toaster tradition in Baltimore, Pelayo was photographed at Edgar Allan Poe's gravesite, an image and event noted by The Guardian, ESPN, and other outlets.

Awards and recognition Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection (Crime Scene, 2022). Sources identify Pelayo as the first Puerto Rican and first Latina to receive a Bram Stoker Award. Finalist, Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel (Children of Chicago, 2021). Winner, International Latino Book Award, Best Mystery (Children of Chicago, 2021). Nominated, Elgin Award (Full-Length) for Poems of My Night (2017); Into the Forest and All the Way Through (2021); and Crime Scene (2023). Finalist, CHIRBy Awards (Chicago Review of Books Awards, Fiction) for Vanishing Daughters (2025). Finalist, Locus Award, Best Horror Novel (Forgotten Sisters, 2025). Finalist, Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction (2025).