Mia Nakaji Monnier is a writer in Los Angeles, focusing on essays and journalism about art, crafts, and culture. Her work has appeared in The Boston Globe; BuzzFeed; O, The Oprah Magazine; Shondaland; The Washington Post; and more. 

The daughter of a Japanese mother and a white, American father, Mia grew up moving frequently across the country and has lived in places including Texas, Illinois, Washington, Vermont, and Kyoto, Japan. 

In 2017, Mia co-founded The Blend, a vertical at HelloGiggles dedicated to mixed-race and multicultural identity. Before that, she was the online editor at Japanese American community newspaper The Rafu Shimpo and a fiction reader at Guernica Magazine.

​She has a Master of Professional Writing (MPW) in Nonfiction from the University of Southern California and a BA in Japanese Studies from Middlebury College.

She also tests knitting patterns for designers and yarn companies and teaches classes at a local yarn shop. An essay of hers will appear this fall in a book about women of color in crafts.

Interviews

Exposition Review Transposition Podcast - Asians Doing Everything - Freelancer Fridays

Selected Mentions

InStyle - Longreads - artist Jen Hewett's newsletter - Women Who Submit - Slate France - Asian American Writers' Workshop - The Ringer - Curator: The Museum Journal - Hyperallergic

Workshops

Idyllwild Writers Week Nonfiction Fellowship, 2021
​Tin House Craft Intensive: Sensory Roadmaps with Tanaïs, 2020
Tin House Craft Intensive: The Very Short Essay with Melissa Febos, 2019

Readings & Panels

Accolades Anthology Launch, San Antonio, Texas, 2020
Japan-America Student Conference, 2019
Exposition Review Vol. IV Launch, Skylight Books, 2019
Associated Collegiate Press Convention, 2018
Japan-America Student Conference, 2017
Little Tokyo Book Festival, 2016
Mixed Remixed Festival, 2016