Marissa Fretes is a first-year MFA candidate at Syracuse University. Originally from New York City, her fiction explores the factors that form identity, how different identities intersect, and how identity is performed. Her work has received support from the Jenny McKean Moore Workshop at George Washington University, the Hurston/Wright Foundation, Lighthouse Writers Workshop, and Tin House. She was also a 2024 Periplus Collective fellow. When not writing, you can find her learning new languages, going to concerts, or watching basketball.