Amber McBride

Amber McBride is an assistant professor at the University of Virginia. She received her BA in English from James Madison University in 2010 and acquired her MFA in Poetry from Emerson College in 2012. She has also taught English Composition, English Literature and Poetry Composition at James Madison University, Strayer University and Northern Virginia Community College.

Her debut YA novel-in-verse, Me (Moth), is about a teen girl who is grieving the deaths of her family, and a teen boy who crosses her path. It’s an exquisite and uplifting novel about identity, first love, and the ways that our memories and our roots steer us through the universe.

Amber is also a poet. Her poetry has appeared in various literary magazines including Ploughshares, Provincetown Arts, DecomP, The Cincinnati Review, The Rumpus and others. Originally from everywhere, Amber was born in Heidelberg, Germany and spent the first 18 years of her life living in several different states. She moved to the Charlottesville area in 2018 and loves calling Albemarle County home.

Amber estimates that she reads about 100 books a year. She lives in Charlottesville, Virgina. Her newest novel-in-verse, We Are All So Good At Smiling, comes out in early 2023.