author · artist · educator

My name is Angela Velez, and I'm a Peruvian-American Young Adult author, quilter, and creative writing professor based in Durham, North Carolina. I teach undergraduate creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I love glitter, melodramatic television, and collecting new hobbies (currently: quilting + rollerblading).

I am the author of Tangled Roots & Wild Dreams (available June 16, 2026) and Lulu and Milagro’s Search for Clarity.

 
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🌸 COVER REVEAL!!!! 🌸 I’m so excited to share the beautiful cover to my second book, TANGLED ROOTS & WILD DREAMS — available June 16, 2026. 🖤💛 This book is a love letter to overthinking crafting girlies who are scared of the fut
August reads: bangers only 10/10
August makes: I gave my sewing machine a break for this month’s creative projects. My makes: copy edits for book two (!!! More on that very soon!!!), elaborate long walks around bakery pop ups, meal prepping, and syllabi making. It’s a li
August: back to reality: bus life, teaching life, being amazed (and throughly entertained) by students life.
A grab bag of books to make me laugh and cry (Leg), marvel over pacing choices (both YA books!!! true treats!), and be glad someone else let their neuroses run wild so I didn’t have to (Second Life). 💖
July makes: two beach trips in one month meant I didn’t touch my sewing machine once, but the pie crusts and mending make up for it. I’m cheating and counting my tablescapes (lol) as a make too! 🥧🪡
July: last weeks of full time baby hanging and my dream house 💓💖💗💕
June: books to make you cry at nap time.
June makes: I’m very close to finishing a gift - here’s a sneak peek at the pattern, plus a photo (not mine!) of my next sewing project. Now that Book 2 is finally off to copyediting, I’m so excited to be working on new things!
June pics before the heatwave: a post headshots (!!!) selfie 🍓☀️🌊 and proof book 2 is chugging along 🖤💛
A very fun mix of books for May - I’ll be thinking about UNFIT PARENT and OUR CROOKED HEARTS for a long, long time. Both are beautiful, unflinchingly honest, and made me reconsider preconceived ideas about motherhood. I’m really looking f
Not much sewing happening this month - I spent May on Book 2 edits, taking a sewing break to stew in anxiety (very bad idea) and then an another to revise (very good idea.) If my book were a quilt, I’m squaring it up (chopping away at my word