The Desert Nights, Rising Stars
Writers Conference

Fernanda Santos teaches narrative journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She joined Cronkite after 12 years at The New York Times, including five as its Phoenix Bureau chief. Her first book, The Fire Line: The Story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, received the Western Writers of America 2017 Spur Award for Best First Nonfiction Book and was one of two finalists in the Contemporary Nonfiction category. Santos, who is from Brazil, has reported in three languages, throughout Latin America and United States. She is a recipient of the Kiplinger, International Reporting Project and Casey Children and Family fellowships, and co-author of “Latinos in the United States,” a reference guide by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.