Deirdre Sugiuchi spent her adolescence in a white evangelical reform school in the Dominican Republic with strong Project 2025 vibes. Her debut memoir, Unreformed, which is about how she survived and thrived despite being imprisoned, was a finalist in the 2025 Vine Leaves Press International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition. It will be published in 2027. Sugiuchi’s essays and excerpts have been featured in Action, Spectacle,Literary Hub, Salon, the anthology Empty the Pews: Stories of Leaving  the Church, and other places. Sugiuchi’s 2025 Unreformed excerpt, “Certificate of Affection,” published in The Midwest Review, was nominated for a Pushcart. The Albee Foundation, the Hambidge Center, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Wildacres have all supported her work. Sugiuchi has been awarded the Key West Writers’ Seminar Teacher and Librarian Award, the Mark Austin Segura Award for Nonfiction, and a 2023 Deming Award for feminist nonfiction. She’s conducted over fifty interviews with authors at Electric Literature,  Guernica, The Rumpus, and other places. A former public school librarian and current Pilates and fitness instructor, Sugiuchi is also the co-founder of The New Town Revue, a music and literature series. Sugiuchi lives in Athens, Georgia with her husband and dog, Lucy. And, even though she believes social media is ruining the world, she can occasionally be found on Instagram and Substack.