Leila Renee earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Syracuse University. Her work has appeared in McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, The Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, Transition Magazine, Columbia Journal, Electric Literature, The Offing, Split Lip, Taymour Grahne Projects, Almine Rech, and Galerie Mighela Shama. Her work has been included in Best Microfiction 2023 and nominated for Best of the Net. Her debut novel Soft Spots will be released on August 4th, 2026. Preorder here.

Advanced Praise for Soft Spots:

"A beautiful debut from an incredible new voice." - Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, New York Times Bestselling Author of Chain-Gang All-Stars.

A taut, funny, immensely charming debut by one of those rare writers who can be acerbic and loving-hearted in the same paragraph. Leila Renee is a richly talented observer of human nature, a casual, riveting stylist, and a cause for hope in these strange times. - George Saunders, Author of Vigil and Lincoln in the Bardo

“Leila Renee's immersive, inventive debut novel Soft Spots is dark but also very funny, sad but also life-affirming, scathing but also compassionate. Her characters are unfailingly complex and convincing. Soft Spots is a moving book, and Leila Renee is a fiercely intelligent, urgent, and promising new voice.” - Dana Spiotta, author of Wayward and Eat the Document.