Darlene P. Campos is an American author born in Houston, Texas to an Ecuadorian family. Her published young adult novels include “Behind Mount Rushmore” (2017), “Summer Camp is Cancelled” (2018), and “Heaven Isn’t Me” (2019). She has garnered numerous accolades for her writing, such as the Sylvan N. Karchmer Fiction Award at the University of Houston in 2013 for “The Bullet” and the Dastaan Fiction Award in 2017 for “Mason Jars.” Darlene holds a BA in English-Creative Writing with a minor in Medicine and Society Studies from the University of Houston, and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Texas at El Paso.
List of awards and recognitions
- Desi Writers’ Lounge – Dastaan Award Winner for Fiction, “Mason Jars,” (2017)
- Pen2Paper Finalist – Fiction, “Benji,” (2017)
- Best of the Net Finalist – Nonfiction, “What I Never Told My Father,” (2016)
- Online Writing Tips – Fiction, 2nd Place Winner, “Wild Horses,” (2016)
- Best of the Net Finalist – Fiction, “Signing Off,” (2014)
- University of Houston – Sylvan N. Karchmer Winner for Fiction, “The Bullet,” (2013)
- Glass Mountain Magazine – Prose Winner, picked by judge and author ZZ Packer, “The Fork,” (2013)
Selected works
Young adult novels
- Behind Mount Rushmore (2017)
- Summer Camp is Cancelled (2018)
- Heaven Isn’t Me (2019)
Children’s bilingual picture book
- Mr. Ray’s Barbershop / La Barbería del Señor Ray (2021)