Theresa Varela is an Award-winning Nuyorican author with a PhD in Nursing Research and Theory Development from New York University. When she's not writing Dr. Varela is working as a psychiatric nurse practitioner at a New York City shelter for persons living with severe mental illness. While engaged in the educational process, she realized that her true calling is as a novelist and poet. She was born in Brooklyn, New York and has lived there proudly all her life. A few readers have mentioned that Brooklyn is one of Theresa Varela's greatest protagonists in her novels.In weaving the aspects of writing, her characters usually thrive in Brooklyn, delve into spiritual realms and the Orisha tradition. They grapple with the grim realities of urban life. Mental illness, domestic violence, and substance dependence are areas that are integrated in her protagonists' lives as they search for personal meaning and how to become their most authentic selves. Her published novels are: Murder in Red Hook: A Daisy Muñiz Mystery; Coney Island Siren, Nights of Indigo Blue: A Daisy Muñiz Mystery, Covering the Sun with My Hand, and Answered by Silence: a collection of poems. Her poetry and short stories have been featured in What They Leave Behind, A Latinx Anthology, Peinate: Hair Battles Between Mothers & Daughters, Sinister Wisdom, and New Voices Anthology.