Mona Ray
Writer · Performer · Multidisciplinary Artist
Mona Ray is a Filipina writer and performer with an inconvenient interest in human behavior. She prefers her characters exquisitely mannered and morally questionable: capable of remarkable tenderness, calculated ruthlessness, and a perfectly articulate defense of both. Her stories favor dark humor, psychological tension, and the uncomfortable territory between what people believe about themselves and what they are willing to do.
Her attachment to the arts began in fourth grade, when a short work of fiction earned her an award. By eleven, she had advanced from sixth chair to first in her viola section. Naturally, she interpreted these developments as encouragement. What followed was a lifelong devotion to artistic expression, with an increasingly unreasonable number of disciplines involved.
Her creative background encompasses published fiction and poetry, film, movement, and visual art. She has taught movement storytelling at Stanford University and coached artists including ((( O ))). Years spent performing have cultivated an appreciation for the subtleties of storytelling: a calculated silence, an unguarded gesture, or the hesitation that reveals more than dialogue ever could.
Beyond the arts, Mona works in social services as a crisis interventionist for the City of San Diego. The profession offers an intimate understanding of resilience, contradiction, and an opportunity to “feel.”
Her current pursuits center on film and narrative storytelling, particularly writing, performance, story development, and producing. Her next novel Rhythm & Ruin is set to self-publish by January of 2027.
She welcomes conversations with filmmakers, casting professionals, literary agents, and fellow artists interested in ambitious, emotionally complex work. A sense of humor is appreciated. An appetite for nuance is even better.
Her original writing and artwork are created without generative AI.
Follow @MonaTheRaven for current projects, creative observations, and occasional dispatches from beyond the manuscript.
Press
CanvasRebel Magazine Interview:
Women We’ve Been Waiting For | YouTube Video Interview with Alix Lebec:
Finding Her Courage Podcast Episode:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0BLpeNuTxCNaGkYAmPxkGi?si=78_TPsuYQKmQzdXUID8Xbw
Step inside my Patreon 🎧
Making art can feel a little like building a strange world alone in a quiet room. Patreon is where I open the door and invite you inside.
Here, you’ll find early chapters, exclusive audiobooks, notes from my writing desk, and glimpses of stories taking shape—from Norah Wolfe’s universe to the worlds I haven’t introduced yet. You’ll also find my growing collection of guided meditations for rest, imagination, and reconnecting with your own creative life.
It’s a little like visiting my studio: manuscripts on the desk, something strange taking shape in the corner, and a quiet place waiting for you by the window. Come for the stories, stay for a meditation, or spend a little time with the messy, magical process behind it all.
Your support helps me make room for this work within the fullness of motherhood and everyday life—to keep writing, creating, recording, and sharing what comes next.