Ciena is an avid writer and reader, a Halloween enthusiast and horror aficionado, and a fan of all things fried dough. She is a graduate student in USC’s Literary Editing and Publishing progressive degree program. She matriculated with undergraduate degrees in English Creative Writing and Political Science the day before embarking on her Maymester voyage. She first enrolled in Bookpacking New Orleans in 2020 before it was inevitably impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but she never lost hope that she would one day return to take her dream class.
As the president of the USC Literary Society, Ciena is passionate about forming connections with other writers and readers over a shared love of literature. On this trip, Ciena hopes to not only embrace the immersive experience of Bookpacking but also to gather inspiration and research for her novel-in-progress, which takes place in the opulent and pathological underbelly of New Orleans subculture.
She will also eat many beignets.
