
Having worked in conflict/post-conflict zones such as Iraq, the West Bank, and Ukraine, Alex Poppe is fascinated by the human capacity for joy, wonder, and resilience; all of it shaping how we become who we are. She writes about fierce and funny women overcoming adversity in the wake of violence.
Three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee Kathy Kelly has said about Alex’s writing:
“Care about these characters and you might help build a warmer world, a less predatory world. The stories seem to unfold effortlessly, but at a deeper level, Alex takes truths that everybody knows and makes them into truths no one can ignore.”
She is the author of four works of literary fiction and an upcoming memoir-in-essay: Duende, an American 2024 Legacy Book Award winner, a 2023 International Book Awards winner and a 2023 Readers’ Choice Book Awards finalist; Jinwar and Other Stories, a 2023 Readers’ Choice Book Awards winner and a 2022 International Book Awards finalist; Moxie, and Girl, World, a 35 Over 35 Debut Book Award winner, First Horizon Award finalist, Montaigne Medal finalist, Eric Hoffer Grand Prize finalist, and was awarded an Honorable Mention in General Fiction from the Eric Hoffer Awards. Her short fiction and non-fiction have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and commended for the Baker Prize among others.
Her memoir, Breakfast Wine, will be released on June 10, 2025. In 2021, Alex was an artist-in-residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, where Breakfast Wine began. Currently, she works in international development, awed by places, people, and their stories.