Paz Pardo
Paz Pardo’s writing has been featured in The New York Times Modern Love column, LitHub, The Brooklyn Review, The I Scream Social Anthology: Volume 1, and Howlround Theater Commons, among other venues. Her novel The Shamshine Blind was selected as one of the best scifi/fantasy novels of 2023 by Library Journal and one of the best debuts by Crimereads. She received her MFA from the Michener Center for Writers in 2018.
Student Feedback for Paz
This course exceeded the expectation I gleaned from the course description. It revived my interest in my novel in progress and encouraged me to look at the work and address my concerns in a fresh way. Paz was an excellent instructor, critic, and advocate. Her responses were timely and her feedback was succinct . She demonstrated an ability to see where I was going and either gave me a friendly push in that direction or pointed out an alternative route. She created a warm and giving environment. Doug Gray
Paz is an outstanding teacher! She is extremely generous with her time, providing a tremendous amount of valuable feedback. She is encouraging and affirming while suggesting ways to improve the work. Diane Carmony
I had an excellent experience in this course — without Paz’s insightful encouragement I think I would have lost momentum on this project but because I took the course I believe I will be able to get through to completing the novel! Catherine George
Paz has provided me with some of the best feedback I’ve ever received on my writing. Even in early stages of a project she is able to identify key unanswered questions that inspired me and drove me forward in my subsequent drafts. Her comments are focused, identifying the most important areas to address, instead of providing a laundry list of comments. Finally, Paz has this gift of offering both love and encouragement with her direct, honest and insightful feedback. Working with her is always rigorous, exhilarating and full of joy. George Bazett
This course was the perfect environment to rewrite my novel! Paz’s feedback has been eye opening! She helped me look at my manuscript in a whole new way, which helped me completely rewrite it. I’m so proud of the manuscript I created with her specific feedback. Paz gave specific feedback about the manuscript and generalized feedback to hone my craft and write better. Liz Leedy
Paz’s ability to read and thoughtfully analyze such a large chunk of my novel with such surprising detail and insight is nothing short of remarkable. Her feedback addressed the key components of my story and revealed layers of nuance I hadn’t considered, all while encouraging me to elevate my work. Paz’s guidance has fundamentally shaped the way I write, particularly in crafting interiority and weaving small, meaningful details that ease and enrich the reader’s experience. Despite her thorough approach, I never once felt judged—only encouraged to meet my full potential. Paz fosters a constructive and uplifting environment, making it a pleasure to learn and grow as a writer. This class has been a worthwhile investment! Antigone Blackwell
Paz is a very thoughtful and considerate teacher. One of the things that appealed to me about this course was her offer to read a large section of my work-in-progress. Having someone look through what I had so far and tell me how I could improve on it was so important to me at this juncture of my journey. I highly recommend her course. Michelle Baltazar

