Maria Pinto
Writer, Editor, and Educator
Maria Pinto is a Boston-area writer, mycophile, and educator, and the author of Fearless, Sleepless, Deathless: What Fungi Taught Me about Nourishment, Poison, Ecology, Hidden Histories, Zombies, and Black Survival (UNC Press, 2025). She leads regular mycological forays at Harvard's Arnold Arboretum.
Presentations
Publications
Biography
Maria Pinto is a Boston-area writer, mycophile, and educator who was born in Jamaica and grew up in South Florida. She is the author of Fearless, Sleepless, Deathless: What Fungi Taught Me about Nourishment, Poison, Ecology, Hidden Histories, Zombies, and Black Survival (UNC Press, 2025).
Her nonfiction has appeared in Science, Orion Magazine, LitHub, Longreads, Arnoldia, and Mushroom People, and her fiction in Obsidian, Frigg, and Necessary Fiction, among other publications. Her writing has been supported by Assets for Artists at MASS MoCA, the Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, the Mass Cultural Council, the Writers' Room of Boston, The Mastheads, and The Garrett on the Green.
Maria has spoken about foraging, food autonomy, and fungal poetry via WGBH, WBUR, WAMC, PBS's Poetry in America, and Bust Magazine, among others. She has led workshops and lectures for the North American Mycological Association, the Northeast Mycological Federation, the New York Mycological Society, the Telluride Mushroom Festival, and the Boston Center for the Arts. She teaches writing for various literary organizations, reads fiction for Peripheries Journal, serves on the board of the outdoor education and land conservancy nonprofit Hale, and leads regular mycological forays at Harvard's Arnold Arboretum.
Photo by Billy Hickey.
