Ciera McElroy is the author of Atomic Family (2023), the Southern Literary Book of the Year. She is also the founder and CEO of Clover and Bee Communications, a boutique agency specializing in film marketing, serving clients like Lionsgate and Sony Pictures.

Atomic Family was released to critical acclaim, named a 2023 Great Group Read by the Women’s National Book Association, and was short-listed for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award.

Ciera was raised in Orlando, Florida. She holds a BA from Wheaton College and an MFA from the University of Central Florida. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Kerouac Project, a residency that allows writers to work in Jack Kerouac’s Orlando home.

Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, AGNI, Bridge Eight, Iron Horse Literary Review, the Crab Orchard Review, and Saw Palm, among others. She currently lives in St. Louis with her family.