A. Muia is the author of A Desert Between Two Seas, a novel in linked stories set in 19th century Baja California, Mexico. The novel won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, was a finalist for the Iowa Short Fiction Award, and is a 2026 Top Pick for the Southwest Books of the Year. The novel is published by the University of Georgia Press. Muia's stories and articles have appeared in literary journals across the U.S. Her work has been anthologized in the Orison Anthology, and nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

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She facilitates writing workshops with youth in juvenile detention through Underground Writing, and co-founded New Earth Recovery, a nonprofit providing a residential program to those recovering from substance use disorder. For fourteen years she served as a chaplain in the Skagit County Jail, and for many years she worked as an advocate for immigrant farm workers in Skagit Valley, Washington.

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She holds a degree in Spanish language, a master's in teaching English to speakers of other languages, a post-graduate certificate in Writing Literary Fiction from the University of Washington, and an MFA in creative writing from Seattle Pacific University.