ADELINA ANTHONY is a self-identified Xicana-Indígena lesbian multi-disciplinary artista. The themes in her works address colonization, feminism, trauma, memory, gender, race/ ethnicity, sexuality, in/migration, health, land/environment, and issues generally affecting the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/two-spirited communities. Her poetry has been published over the years in anthologies coming out of Texas, Germany, and California. Most recently a few of her poems were published in the anthology Queer Codex: Rooted! (edited by Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano ). In 2007 she performed and toured her poetry along with Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano and Dino Foxx in a poetry performance experiment called "Tragic Bitches." Kórima Press will be publishing a book of poems based on the Tragic Bitches project, as well as a full-length book of poems by Adelina in 2011. For more info visit: www.adelinaanthony.com

Alberto Urista - Alurista

Alurista , Alberto Baltazar Urista Heredia, born August 8th 1947 in Mexico City , chicano poet and activist , well known for his support of the chicano movement through his poetry and literature, with such contributions as El Plan Espirtual de Aztlan , first read in 1969 at the First National Chicano Youth Liberation Conference in Denver, Co. and recognized as the manifesto of the chicano movement. He has also cofounded and worked with Mecha, Maya, Brown Berets, Toltecas de Aztlan, United Farmworkers Union, El Centro Cultural de la Raza, Concilio por la Justicia, Festival Floricanto, Chicano studies Dept. at S.D.S.U. and was key a figure in the takeover of Chicano Park in 1970. In 1983 his doctoral thesis was accepted at U.C.S.D. and has taught at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Ca. , Escuela Tlatelolco in Denver, Co. , and University of Texas at Austin, among others. His poetry is a cultural, spirtual and political window into the chicano world. He has given recitals in colleges, universities, and other venues around the globe. In addition he has written works of nonfiction, literary criticism and many essays on chicano culture and history. In the 1970s he founded Maize, a Chicano journal of literature and criticism. The following are some of his works. Floricanto en Aztlan 1971. Nationchild plumaroja, 1969-1972. Toltecas en Aztlan, Centro Cultural de la Raza, 1972. Cantares arrullos.: Bilingual Press, 1975. Festival de flor y Canto: an anthology of Chicano literature (editor). University of Southern California Press, 1976. Timespace huracan : poems, 1972-1975. Pajarito Publications, 1976. A'nque 1979. Spik in Glyph?. Arte Público Press, 1981. Return: Poems Collected and New. Bilingual Press, 1982. Chicanos : the second largest minority in the USA 1988. Z Eros. Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingüe, 1995. Et Tu... Raza?. Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingüe, 1996. As our barrio turns: who the yoke b on?. Calaca Press, 2000. Read more: http://www.myspace.com/alurista#ixzz0z4nnXXfm

Alejandro Murguía was the editor of Tin-Tan Magazine, the first Chicano-Latino arts and literature magazine that established an international perspective for Latino writing. A founding member and the first director of the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts in San Francisco’s Mission District, he has also been an editor (Volcán: Poetry from Central America), publisher (Tin-Tan Magazine) and a translator (Rosario Murillo: Angel in the Deluge). His books include Southern Front (American Book Award, 1991), Spare Poems (2001), and most recently This War Called Love (American Book Award, 2002), City Lights Books. In non-fiction, he published The Medicine of Memory: A Mexica Clan in California, University of Texas Press. In January 2003, the New Fiction Series in Los Angeles presented his stories turned into plays.
A recent story “The Other Barrio”—in the noir genre—appears in the anthology San Francisco Noir, Akashic Books, NY. Another story, “Boy on Wooden Horse,” appears in the just release anthology Pow Wow: Charting the American Experience; Short Stories from then to now, edited by Ishmael Reed and Carla Blank, Da Capo Press. He is a Professor in Raza Studies at San Francisco State University.

Amarilis Martinez was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Martinez received her B.A. in Writing Intensive English and History from Marquette University in 2005. She received her M.A. in English with a concentration in Creative Writing from Mount Mary College in 2010. She writes free verse poetry and creative nonfiction in which she blends English and Spanish. Martinez’s unpublished memoir titled, Recuerdos de Mi Vida: This is what Makes Me, a mix of poetry and prose, is about cultural influences, overcoming tragedy, and striving for higher education. Martinez is an instructor at Milwaukee Area Technical College where she teaches English as a Second Language and College Writing courses.   

Conrad Romo

Conrad Romo is a second generation LosAngelino. He grew up on the other
side of the tracks short, stocky and swarthy. He produces
"Tongue&Groove", a monthly reading event at the Hotel Caféin Hollywood,
now into it's seventh year. He also produced Palabrazilla, a 2 day 12
venue collaboration of spoken word venues from around LA. He has studied
with Lynda Barry and Jack Grapes. A few places that he's been published
include; Tu Ciudad, Los Angeles Review, Circa, Latinos in Lotusland,
Palehouse, Brooklyn & Boyle, Wednesday and the upcoming Slake. He can be
reached at www.tongueandgroovela.com

Daniel A. Olivas is the author of five books of fiction including Anywhere But L.A.: Stories (Bilingual Press, 2009), Devil Talk: Stories (Bilingual Press, 2004), and a children’s book, Benjamin and the Word / Benjamín y la palabra (Arte Público Press, 2005).  His first full-length novel, The Book of Want, will be published by the University of Arizona Press in 2011.  Olivas has been widely anthologized including in Sudden Fiction Latino (W. W. Norton, 2010), and Hint Fiction (W. W. Norton, 2010).  He has written for numerous publications including the Los Angeles Times, MacGuffin, THEMA, Exquisite Corpse, La Bloga, the El Paso Times and The Jewish Journal.  Olivas is the editor of Latinos in Lotusland: An Anthology of Contemporary Southern California Literature (Bilingual Press, 2008), which brings together sixty years of Los Angeles fiction by Latino/a writers.  Since 1990, he has practiced law with the California Department of Justice in the Public Rights Division.  Olivas makes his home in the San Fernando Valley with his wife and son.  Website: www.danielolivas.com.

Daniel Acosta

Daniel Acosta is a writer and retired teacher. His fiction has appeared in Nuestro and Lowrider magazines, and in Homenaje a la Ciudad de Los Angeles, an anthology of Latino writing celebrating the bicentennial of the city of Los Angeles. His The Taming of the Shrew, A Barrio Adaptation of the Shakespeare Comedy had a dramatic reading at the former Los Angeles Inner City Cultural Center. He recently complete another play, The Doctor of Women’s Hearts. Daniel earned his BA in English and his MA in education from California State University, Los Angeles. Daniel recently retired after teaching English for 34 years at Mark Keppel High School in Alhambra. A former member of the L.A. Latino Writers’ Workshop,

Daniel Cano

The author of three novels, Pepe Rios, Shifting Loyalties (Arte Publico Press) and his most recent release Death and the American Dream (Bilingual Review Press), which received first place recognition in the historical novel category by the "12 Annual International Latino Literary Award," Daniel Cano's writing has also appeared in Aztlan in Vietnam, Pieces of the Heart, Unnatural Disasters: recent writings from the Golden State, River's Voice, and Bre'ves, a literary journal published in France. In 2006, Longman Press included Daniel Cano' story "Somewhere Outside Duc Pho" in Latino Boom: An anthology of U.S. Latino Literature, claiming "Latino Boom presents some of the best Latino literature from the past 20 years." Currently an associate professor of English at Santa Monica College, Cano has held administrative positions at UCLA, UC Davis, and CSU Dominguez Hills, his alma mater. He has worked on numerous veterans' causes and is interested in the issues that affect veterans today.

DANNY ROMERO (1961) was born and raised in Los Angeles. He has degrees from
UC Berkeley (undergraduate) and Temple University (graduate) in Philadelphia. He currently teaches at Sacramento City College. Romero’s poetry and short fiction have been published in literary journals and anthologies, including West of the West: Imagining California (1989), Under the Fifth Sun: Latino Literature from California (2003), Latinos in Lotusland: An Anthology of Contemporary Southern California Literature (2008) and Pow Wow: Charting the Fault Lines in the American Experience - Short Fiction from Then to Now (2009). He is the author of the novel Calle 10 (1996) and two chapbooks of poetry. A poetry collection is forthcoming from Bilingual Review Press. He lives in Sacramento with his son.

Diana Garcia

dorinda moreno

I am a teacher, communicator, theatrist, poet, writer, novelist, cultural worker, grassroots internet'worker', convener of elders, intergenerational mentor & guide, sister, mother, great grandmother, and friend. Have several publications that have been turned into performing arts themes and integrated into theatre sketches, and yet plan developing a play on the too brief life of leader and brave warrior of the Alcatraz Occupation, Richard Oakes, with his daughter Fawn Oakes, son, Richard Jr., and widow, Anna Oakes. Am mentor to the beloved elder, Norma Knight, Pomo, (Elders Caravan to Chiapas; respected God-mother of DQ University & 30-year member of Board of Directors.) Also, I aspire in developing a Cultural Commission that is recognized globally as the connect of Indigenous Artists, Educators, Activists, everywhere in the Four Directions, for uniting the Global family of humankind, to walk together in dignity in respect of the wise ones who have left us their gifts of knowledge.

Emmy Pérez is the author of Solstice.  Her work has also appeared in Prairie Schooner, North American Review, Indiana Review, Achiote Seeds, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, The Wind Shifts: New Latino Poetry, and other publications.  She is a CantoMundo poetry fellow (2010) and a member of the Macondo Writers’ Workshop.  In 2009, she received the Alfredo Cisneros Del Moral Foundation Award.  She has taught writing workshops in adult and juvenile detention centers for many years.  Originally from Santa Ana, California, she is a graduate of USC and Columbia University.  Currently, she teaches in the MFA program at the University of Texas-Pan American.  She has lived on the Tejas-Mexico border, from El Paso to El Valle, for the past decade.

E. A. "Tony" Mares is a poet, historian, essayist, and fiction writer who has published extensively. His work has appeared in local, regional, national, and international venues. Among his works are three chapbooks, two books of poetry, and one book of translations of the poems of Ángel González. : His books include The Unicorn Poem & Flowers and Songs of Sorrow (Albuquerque, West End Press, 1992), With the Eyes of a Raptor (San Antonio, Wings Press, 2004), and his translations of poems by the noted Spanish poet Ángel González, Casi Toda la Música y otros poemas/Almost All the Music and Other Poems (San Antonio, Wings Press, 2007). Most recently, along with Tomás Atencio and Miguel Montiel, he co-authored Resolana: Emerging Chicano Dialogues on Community and Globalization (Tucson, University of Arizona Press, 2009).
In addition to his literary work, Mares has a doctorate in European History and he has taught at many colleges, universities, and other educational venues. He is Professor Emeritus of English, The University of New Mexico, where he taught poetry and fiction writing in the Creative Writing Program. He founded and directed what may have been the first university based Internet outreach program in the United States designed to involve mid-school, high school, and adult writers in an online learning environment called the Writers Inn. This program encouraged a network of young students to develop their writing skills and placed them in contact with university-based professional writers.
Early in his career, Mares's research and publications reinvigorated the study of Padre Antonio José Martínez of Taos, a key figure in New Mexican and Southwestern History. From the spring of 2000 through the spring of 2001, Mares published a weekly newspaper political and literary column in Spanish, Pláticas Entre Los Trasnochadores/Conversations Among People Who Stay Up All Night, in the Albuquerque Journal North, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Recently, Mares has been the poet-in-residence for the University of Oklahoma's Summer Program in Santa Fe, New Mexico for the past five years, 2004 –2009.
Forthcoming, Fall 2010, is a book-length poem by Mares, Conversations I Never Had With Patrociño Barela, Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press. Also, Fall 2010, Voices of the American Land will publish a chapbook by Mares based on imagery from the Rio Grande.

Estella Gonzalez was born and raised in East Los Angeles, which inspires most of her writing. Her work has been anthologized in Latinos in Lotusland: An Anthology of Contemporary Southern California Literature published by Bilingual Press and Kaleidoscope published by Pima Press.  Her writing has also appearedin literary magazines Puerto del Sol, Sandscript and Eleven Eleven. She received her MFA in creative writing from Cornell University and is working on her first novel.

Estevan Arellano

Juan Estevan Arellano – Journalist, writer, researcher; a graduate of New Mexico State
University and a Fellow of the Washington Journalism Center. He is now a Visiting Research
Scholar at the University of New Mexico's School of Architecture. La Acequia de Juan del Oso,
John the Bear and the Water of Life, a bilingual children's book written with Dr. Enrique
Lamadrid, was recently published by the University of New Mexico Press, with royalties going
to the New Mexico Acequia Association. In 2006 he published,"Ancient Agriculture: Roots and
Application of Sustaniable Farming," from Gibbs Smith Publishing; a compilation and first
English translation of the Obra de Agricultura, by Gabriel Alonso de Herrera, the first book in
the Spanish language about agriculture written in 1513. He picaresque novel, Inocencio: Ni pica
ni escarda pero siempre se come el mejor elote, published by Grijalbo in 1994 in Mexico City
won the prestigious Premio Nacional de Literatura José Fuentes Mares. He also was awarded
the Premio del Rio Grande from the Rio Grande Institute in 1984 for his collection of poetry and
photographs, "Palabras de la vista, Retratos de la Pluma." In 1999 he wrote the poetry for the
highly acclaimed lowrider book, Low n Slow: Lowrideing in New Mexico," published by the
Musuem of New Mexico Press. He also collaborated with writers Rudolfo Anaya and Denise
Chavez in writing the first book on the roadside crosses, Descansos: an Interrupeted Journey in
1998. He has also published a collection of short stories, Cuentos de Café y Tortilla, by
Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez, 1997. His first book was Entre Verde y Seco, which he
edited in 1972, by La Academia de la Nueva Raza. He also was a columnist for the Taos News,
and Spanish Editor for over 15 years.
He has received an Individual Fellowship from the Ford Foundation and in 2007 the New
Mexico State Legislature recognized him as one of the 15 top Hispanics in New Mexico. He is
also involved in setting up and International Acequia Documentation Center, under the auspices
of the Lore of the Land.
He is a former director of the Oñate Cultural Center and VISTA volunteer and at present resides
in Embudo with wife Elena. He has three children Javier and wife Candie; Unica and Carlos and
two granddaughters Mireya and Amaris and a grandson Mario. He has also been involved for
over 10 years with the Camino Real in both New Mexico, Mexico and Spain; in 1998 the State
of Chihuahua presented him with an Homenaje for his cultural work as a writer. He has served as
mayordomo and commissioner of the Acequia Junta y Ciénaga and is a former Concilio member
of the New Mexico Acequia Association and an advocate of traditional agriculture and acequias
and very involved in preserving the genetic diversity of the fruit trees and food traditions that
came up the Camino Real from the Middle East, via the Iberian Peninsula and Mexico. He is also
a board member of Sustain Taos.
Among the projects he is working on is an Acequia Handbook, with architect Arnie Valdez; a
book on the Chinampas in Xochimilco, a theater piece Esperano el agua about a mayordomo;
another picaresque novel based on the folklore character Pedro Urdemalas y su carnal Juan
Tonto. He has just completed a manuscript on arid land irrigation, titled, The Knowledge of
Water and the Wisdom of the Land.

Francisco X. Alarcón, Chicano poet and educator, was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1954.  He is the author of ten volumes of poetry, including, From the Other Side of Night / Del otro lado de la noche: New and Selected Poems (University of Arizona Press 2002), Sonetos a la locura y otras penas / Sonnets to Madness and Other Misfortunes (Creative Arts Book Company 2001), No Golden Gate for Us (Pennywhistle Press 1993), Snake Poems: An Aztec Invocation(Chronicle Books 1992), De amor oscuro / Of Dark Love (Moving Parts Press 1991, and 2001), Body in Flames / Cuerpo en llamas (Chronicle Books l990).
His most recent book of bilingual poetry for children, Animal Poems of the Iguazú / Animalario del Iguazú (Children’s Book Press 2008), has been selected as a Notable Book for a Global Society by the International Reading Association, and as an Américas Awards Commended Title by the Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs. His bilingual book titled Poems to Dream Together / Poemas para soñar juntos, was published by Lee & Low Books, New York in Spring 2005, and was awarded the 2006 Jane Addams Honor Book Award. His previous bilingual book for children, Laughing Tomatoes and Other Spring Poems / Jitomates risueños y otros poemas de primavera (Children’s Book Press, 1997) was awarded the 1997 Pura Belpré Honor Award by the American Library Association and the National Parenting Publications Gold Medal. He also received the 2000 Pura Belpré Honor Award for his second book of bilingual poems for children, From the Bellybutton of the Moon and Other Summer Poems / Del ombligo de la luna y otros poemas de verano (Children’s Book Press 1998), and the 2002 Pura Belpré Honor Award for his fourth book of bilingual poems for children, Iguanas in the Snow and Other Winter Poems / Iguanas en la nieve y otros poemas de invierno (Children’s Book Press 2001). He has published another book for children, Angels Ride Bikes and Other Fall Poems / Los ángeles andan en bicicleta y otros poemas de otoño (Children’s Book Press 1999).
UC Davis Professor of Music Pablo Ortiz composed 13 songs based on Alarcón’s bilingual children’s poems and that were recorded in Mexico and releazse as Canciones del Ombligo de la Luna / Songs From the Belytbutton of the Moon under the auspices of grants from MEXUS and the Rockefeller Foundation in 2003.
He was member of the Board of Directors of the Mission Cultural Center of San Francisco from 1986-1990, and served as its Board President from 1986-1989.  He also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Children Book Press from 1997 to 2003. This is a nonprofit press that has published multicultural books for children for more than 25 years in San Francisco, California.  He is co-founder of Los Escritores del Nuevo Sol (Writers of the New Sun), a collective of poets and writers based in Sacramento, California.
Francisco has been a recipient of the Danforth and Fulbright fellowships, and has been awarded several literary prizes, including the 1998 Carlos Pellicer-Robert Frost Poetry Honor Award by the Third Binational Border Poetry Contest, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, 1993 American Book Award, the 1993 Pen Oakland Josephine Miles Award, and the 1984 Chicano Literary Prize.  In April 2002 he received the Fred Cody Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bay Area Book Reviewers Association (BABRA) in San Francisco. He was one of the three finalists nominated for the state Poet Laureate of California in 2005 and has been selected again as a finalist for Poet Laureate on June 2008.
He has published several textbooks for teaching Spanish at the college and high school level: Mundo 21 (Houghton Mifflin 2002), Pasaporte al Mundo 21, Tu Mundo, and Nuestro Mundo  (McDougal Littel 2000).  He co-edited a volume of essays on teaching Spanish to heritage speakers, La enseñanza de español a hispanohablantes:  praxis y teoría (Houghton Mifflin 1997).

Born in Mexico, Gloria Alvarez graduated from California State University, Dominguez Hills, She has worked as a writer/intermedia artist, translator, teacher, curator, producer, social worker, and consultant with Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, L.A. Music Center, L.A. County Museum of Art, Beyond Baroque Literary Center, Cornerstone Theater Company, Getty Research Institute for the History of the Arts and of the Humanities, S.P.A.R.C, U.C. Berkeley, East L.A. College, CSU Los Angeles, CSU Northridge, California Institute of the Arts, California State Summer School of the Arts, Community Arts Partnership, Armory Center for the Arts, UC Los Angeles, Artsreach Artist Residencies, Performing Tree, California Poets in the Schools, L.A. Central Public Library, L.A. Cultural Affairs Department, Barnsdall Junior Arts Center, Arroyo Seco Art in the Park, L.A. Photography Center, Mc Groarty Arts Center, Plaza De La Raza, Self Help Graphics, Mark Taper Forum Artist in Residence Program, The Woman’s Building, L.A. County Schools, L.A. Unified School District, L.A. Festival, Comision Feminil, Y.M.C.A., ChicaNica Cultural/Educational Exchange, Radio Pacifica, the HeArt Projec, and others.

A native of Nuevo Laredo, Tamualipas, Javier O. Huerta became a legal resident under the amnesty of 1986 and became a U.S. citizen in January of 2000. His book *Some Clarifications y otros poemas* (Arte Publico 2007) received the Chicano/Latino Literary Prize from UC Irvine. He studies the laughter of poetry in the English PhD Program at UC Berkeley. He is currently at work on his second poetry manuscript, *American Copia*, a book-length poem "about" going to the grocery store.

John-Michael Rivera

John-Michael Rivera is Associate Professor of English at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he teaches creative writing and Chicana/o cultural studies. His poems and lyric essays have appeared in numerous journals including PALABRA, senderwerden, Eclectica, ELN, Fringe, and ALH. An award winning writer of three books, he also curates programs for innovative writers of color in the US and abroad. He is the founder and editor of Shadowbox Magazine, a journal of creative nonfiction.

Juan A. Contreras

Works of poetry, short stories and essays have been published in Floricanto I, Floricanto II, Caracol Magazine, La Raza Habla, El Maize, Chokecherries, and other independent publications.  Presentations from closing Bilingual Ed breakfasts with Ysleta ISD to doing readings at CABE, to presenting to Parent, Student, and Educator groups in El Paso, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Las Cruces, Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles, themes ranging from English Language Learners, Bilingual Ed, Dual Language, Parenting Skills, love and humanity.

“I have a dream” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “that our children one day will be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin…” We must have the same dream with a vision that one day our children be judged not by the accent of their tongue, but by the creativity in their expression and the power of their voice. . .”

Juan Felipe has been a lover of experimental theatre since high school, good flour tortillas and guacamole. His poetry was sparked by his parent’s farm-worker corridos and flourished in the civil rights movement of the 60’s. In additional to his twenty-eight books, Juan Felipe’s recent books are Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems (University of Arizona Press) a New York Times best books of 2008, 2009 National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry 2009, 2009 PEN Beyond Margins Award, Latino International Award in Poetry, PEN Beyond Margins Award 2009 and 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross the Border: Undocuments (City Lights) which won the 2008 Pen National Poetry Award and the 2008 Pen/Oakland Josephine Miles National Poetry Award.  His forthcoming book for young adults is Skate Fate. (Harper Collins). Guggenheim Fellowship 2010 winner, Juan is the Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair in the Department of Creative Writing at UC-Riverside. In 2004, Juan Felipe’s children’s book, The Upside Down Boy, became a musical in New York City for young audiences and in 2008, he wrote the lyrics and libretto for another children’s musical – Salsalandia (La Jolla Playhouse).

Karen Cordova is a writer and business woman, who lives in Southern California. She is a graduate (B.A. and M.B.A.) of the University of California at Irvine.

Karen was born in Colorado and has deep roots both in Southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. Much of her writing reflects love of her heritage by weaving stories about individuals, villages and customs of the Spanish, who settled the southwest, and those with whom they intermarried.

Karen's love is writing poetry. She has participated in formal spoken word performances, and several of her poems have been published. In 2009, she completed a 32-poem book, Pass the Farolito, a true story, which casts a Hispano light on the dark subject of elder abuse and neglect. The book also illuminates a jagged path to solution and unexpected healing. Pass the Farolito is being submitted to publishers for consideration.

Karen Cordova's work has been published in:

The Frank Waters Foundation Aspen Sun: Sheltering the Creative Spirit; "Elegy for Mona Ohlin" (letterpress broadside); FRONTERAS/Writers Without Borders; HeartLodge: Honoring the House of the Poet; Huerfano World; Genealogical Society of Hispanic America-Southern California Noticias; Irvine Chamber of Commerce Business Connection; The Master's Hand: Reflections on RANE; Tiger's Eye; and Threaded Lives: Poems from the Fiber World.

Lisa Alvarez's essays and short stories have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, OC Weekly, Santa Monica Review and Green Mountains Review and the anthologies Sudden Fiction Latino: Short-Short Stories from the United States and Latin America, Latinos in Lotusland: an Anthology of Contemporary Southern California Literature and Geography of Rage: Remembering the Los Angeles Riots of 1992. With Alan Cheuse, she edited Writers Workshop in a Book: The Community of Writers on the Art of Fiction; with Louis B. Jones, she directs the Squaw Valley workshops. She is a professor of English at Irvine Valley College.

Manuel Ramos is a lawyer, former professor of Chicano Literature and a recipient of the Colorado Book Award and the Chicano/Latino Literary Award. He is the Director of Advocacy for Colorado Legal Services, the statewide legal aid program and the author of six crime fiction novels, five of which feature Denver lawyer Luis Móntez. The Móntez series debuted with The Ballad of Rocky Ruiz (1993), a finalist for the Edgar® award from the Mystery Writers of America. His published works include the noir private eye novel, Moony’s Road to Hell (2002), several short stories, poems, non-fiction articles and a handbook on Colorado landlord-tenant law, now in a fifth edition. He is a co-founder of and weekly contributor to La Bloga (www.labloga.blogspot.com), an award-winning Internet magazine devoted to Latino literature, culture, news, and opinion. His most recent publications include a story entitled The Skull of Pancho Villa in the anthology Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery; a story Fence Busters in the anthology A Dozen on Denver;  and a poem for Lineup, a magazine devoted to crime poetry.His novel entitled King of the Chicanos will be published in May, 2010.

Marco Antonio Domínguez, 1946, Cerro Agudo, Sinaloa, México. Resides en Lubbock, Texas (EEUU)
Has received the following academic degrees: An AA in Liberal Studies from Rio Hondo College; a BA in Spanish from Cal. St. Univ., Los Angeles; an MA in Spanish from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and a PHD Honoris Causa in Philosophy and Education from Golden State University, Los Angeles.

He retired from East Los Angeles College in 2008. Besides teaching Spanish, and Mexican Civilization and Contemporary Mexican Literature, he was the chair of the Foreign Language Dept. for 20 years; Student Government Advisor and Director of Student Activities for 6 years, and Associate Dean for 3 years. He was a member, Vice-President and President of the Board of Education in the Baldwin Park Unified School District for 10 years. At USC he was a member of the Centro Chicano Governing Board, and president of Sigma Delta Pi (A Spanish honor society)He is currently teaching Spanish as a part-time instructor at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.

Some of his recognitions include: Hispanic of the Week by Channel 52; Honorary Member of the Educational Society of Los Angeles; Certificate of Recognition by the Los Angeles City Council for his contributions to bilingual journalism and the Spanish News Media in Los Angeles.
He was the founder and advisor of the Spanish Club; The Latin American Journalism Association, and the Student Cultural Press Club at ELAC.

Marco A. Domínguez is originally from California. He studied at East Los Angeles Community College, Northern Michigan University, and Texas Tech University. His poetry has appeared in Indiana Review, South Dakota Review, Water-Stone Review, Willow Springs, and elsewhere.

I think that this is an important event that you are working on and am honored to see my father be part of it. I am finishing up my Ph.D. at Texas Tech and the more I study I realize that events like the original Flor y Canto are necessary for our community to come together and celebrate the art we create.

Maria Melendez publishes Pilgrimage magazine in Pueblo, Colorado (www.pilgrimagepress.org). University of Arizona Press has published two of her poetry collections: How Long She'll Last in This World (2006), and Flexible Bones (2010). She serves as Contributing Editor for Latino Poetry Review and acquiring editor for Momotombo Press, a chapbook publisher featuring prose and poetry by emerging Latino writers.

Melinda Palacio grew up in South-Central Los Angeles and now lives in Santa Barbara. She holds two degrees in Comparative Literature—a B.A. from UC Berkeley and a Master’s from UC Santa Cruz. She co-edits Ink Byte Magazine. She is a 2007 PEN Center USA Emerging Voices Rosenthal Fellow and a 2009 alum of the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications, including Sage Trail Poetry Magazine, BorderSenses, Black Renaissance Noire, Buffalo Carp, Palabra: A Magazine of Chicano and Latino Literary Art, the Valley Voice, Maple Leaf Rag III and IV: An Anthology of Poems, the Naugatuck River Review, O&S Poets and Artists, Latinos in Lotusland: An Anthology of Contemporary Southern California Literature,  andforthcoming in Poets of the American West and Quercus Review. Her first novel, Ocotillo Dreams, will be published by Arizona State University’s Bilingual Press. Folsom Lockdown, the 2009 winner of Kulupi Press’ Sense of Place chapbook contest, is her first collection of poems.

Mónica Teresa Ortiz is a native Texan & grew up among tornadoes, cattle, the plains, & the 90s. Her work has appeared in Borderlands, Palabra, Rio Grande Review, In the Grove, Border Senses, OCHO, as well as in the anthologies Weight of Addition & Writing on the Wind, & her chapbook On a Greyhound Straight from the 915. A graduate of both UT-Austin & UT El Paso, Ortiz currently resides in Austin.

Nancy Alcalá has been a student in the United States for the last twelve years; her family emigrated from Michoacán, Mexico in pursue for a better life and a chance for higher education, she has taken every opportunity possible to achieve that goal. Nancy began writing poetry and short stories, as class assignments, which later became a form of expression based on personal experiences. After writing about her hardships, Nancy now aims to write about issues in her community and world with an emphasis on culture, immigrant experiences and self-reflection. In the summer of 2009 Nancy joined the teen writing program, Barrio Writers. Her poetry is now published in the first edition Barrio Writers book. Nancy will be graduating from Century High School June 2010. She will pursue higher education in the fall at Santa Ana Community College for a career in Theater Lighting Design and Studio Sound.

Poet/Writer/Social Justice Activist


Poet and writer, Odilia Galván Rodríguez, is of Chicano-Apache ancestry born in Galveston, Texas and raised on the south side of Chicago. She has done extensive work as a labor/community organizer, with the United Farm Workers of America AFL-CIO, and as a cultural worker and social justice activist. Most recently she worked as the English edition editor for Tricontinental Magazine in Havana, Cuba. She is the author of three books of poetry, of which Migratory Birds: New and Noted Poems is her latest. Odilia offers Empowering People Through Creative Writing Workshops internationally.

Olga Garcia

Born and raised in East Los Angeles, Olga Garcia Echeverria has been writing her cucaracha-obsessed-Spanglish poesia since she was a chamaca in the hood. Her book, Falling Angeles: Cuentos y Poemas, was co-published by Calaca Press and Chibcha Press in 2008. Her recent chapbook, Lovely Little Creatures, is a limited edition, self-published poetry collection made from 100% recycled cardboard. To learn more about these cardboard creations, visit http://labloga.blogspot.com/search?q=Eloisa+Cartonera.

Since her first poetry collection Santa Perversa and Other Erotic Poems (Calaca Press, 2001), reina alejandra prado continues to challenge taboos imposed on Latina women by delving into the realm of the erotic affirming that sexesmiotroerórtico (sex is my other erotic). She has performed to audiences throughout California, Arizona, New York City, Washington, DC, and internationally in Scotland, Mexico and Cuba. She is a founding member along with Pat Payne & Dora McQuaid of The NeoSpinsters, a poetry performance collective. She has also collaborated with the L.A. Coyotas, an interdisciplinary and intergenerational Chicana artist collective, and is currently working on the project “Words With A Purpose” with liz gonzález, Olga Garcia Echeverría and Frankie Salinas in Los Angeles, producing literary events with community organizations.

In 2008, she collaborated with visual artists and poets to produce Hojaldre Press’ first handmade book at Self-Help Grpahics Arts, Inc. The book entitled (in)permanencia addresses the complexity of biculturalism and transnational ties, as read in the playful adaptation of code switching read in the book title, and a sense of temporality in each of these artists’ lives. Prado’s silkscreen print “Atado a ti” was included in the Mission Cultural Center’s exhibition Visual Poetry, June 2009.

Prado has also created solo performances and interactive durational works “Whipped” and “Not About Me,” “Take a Piece of My Heart” and “Ghost of Us” at Highways Performance Space. In 2009, Prado presented “Ghost of Us” for the Prayer for Juárez events at CASA 0101 and Casa Cultural Benemérito de las Américas in Coyoacán, Mexico. She also produced procliTvities at Highways for the 5th Annual Latina/o New Works Festival. The concept for procliTvities is part of Prado’s vision to present a body of work by Latinas addressing sexual and sensual explorations in all its complexities. During her first artist residency at UCLA’s Hothouse, she continues developing her first solo performance entitled Whipped!. Prado can be contacted for readings via email at santaperversa@yahoo.com

Photo credit: Rigo Maldonado, 2009

Reyna Grande

Reyna Grande is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Across A Hundred Mountains (Atria 2006), for which she received an American Book Award (2007) and El Premio Aztlan Literary Award (2006). Her latest novel, Dancing with Butterflies, was published in October 2009 to rave reviews. It received a 2010 International Latino Book Award in its Best Women's Issues category.

Born in Mexico in 1975, Grande was raised by her grandparents after her parents left her behind while they worked in the U.S. She came to the U.S. at the age of nine as an undocumented immigrant and went on to become the first person in her family to obtain a higher education.

She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Creative Writing and Film and Video from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Antioch University. She is a sought-after speaker at middle/high schools, colleges and universities across the nation. She is the Program Coordinator of the Latino Book & Family Festival. She is currently at work on a memoir.

richard montoya

Richard Montoya founded Culture Clash in 1984 with Jose Antonio Burciaga and Rene Yanez -
Herbert Siguenza, Monica Palacios and Marga Gomez all performed on that Cinco de Mayo - Ric Salinas
came a month later and the group never looked back but evolved into the Chicano/Latino performance trio
that it is today - in those early days Culture Clash borrowed  from the Royal Chicano Air Force and Teatro Campesino of which they are all alumni - around 1994 they found their own unique voice after that night with Tapon in San Antonio!

15 plays - 5 books later - Culture Clash is Chicano/Latino Teatro that bridges the rich literary history of our Chicano and Chicana poets with the nation's top regional theater stages.

Rigoberto González is the author of eight books and the editor of Camino del Sol: Fifteen Years of Latina and Latino Writing. The recipient of Guggenheim and NEA fellowships, winner of the American Book Award, and The Poetry Center Book Award, he writes a Latino book column for the El Paso Times of Texas. He is contributing editor for Poets and Writers Magazine, on the Board of Directors of the National Book Critics Circle, and is Associate Professor of English at Rutgers—Newark, State University of New Jersey. 

Roberto Vargas

BIO: Roberto Vargas

• Born in Managua, Nicaragua, 1941, raised in San Francisco, Mission district.

• SF Art Commission, Neighborhood Arts Program Organizer 1969-74.

• Translator and facilitator for Poet Ernesto Cardenal since 1974

• Associate Director, San Francisco Art Commission, Neighborhood Arts Program. 1974-79

• San Francisco State University, Creative Writing instructor, 1970-73

• Diplomat: Counselor, Cultural Affairs, Embassy of Nicaragua, Washington, DC 1979-86,/Director of North American Affairs, Foreign Ministry of Nicaragua,/ Nicaragua’s Ambassador to China, Beijing, 1990.

• Consultant for Social and cultural Programs, CITGO Petroleum of Venezuela. (2006-2009)           

• Currently with American Federation of Teachers, Field Representative

Publications:

• Co-Founder and Editor of Ediciones Poche Che, 1969 Revista Tin Tan 1972

Publications include books of poetry by: Alejandro Murguia, Jose Montoya, Raul Salinas, Nina Serrano.

• Co-Editor with Janice Mirikitani: Time To Greez, Incantations from The Third World, 1971, Foreword by Maya Angelou.

• Editor: Gangs and Drugs in Managua, 1996 (Grant from Save the Children, Norway)

Personal Poetry/publications include:
A/ Primeros Cantos, 1970 (Ediciones Pocho Che)
B/ Nicaragua, I sing you kisses, bullets, and visions of liberty
1979 (Ediciones Poche Che, Calif. Art Commission Grant)

AWARDS (Partial)
Life Time Achievement , December 2005 University of Amherst,
For publication, personal body of work and of anthologies and books of young Latino authors, and anthologies that featured a diversity of young ethnic poets, writers and artists in the United States in the early 70’s.
Honorary Chairman, April 22, May 3, 2008, San Francisco City Hall, Arts Commission, 40th anniversary celebration of the founding of the Neighborhood Arts Programs, by invitation of the San Francisco Art Commission, to preside 2 weeks of city-wide arts forums and events.
Certificate of Honor, May 3, 2008 Issued by “The San Francisco Board of Supervisors extends its highest commendation in appreciative public recognition of distinction and merit for outstanding service to the people of the City and County of San Francisco, and for your visionary leadership in bringing the arts to San Francisco’s neighborhoods, nurturing arts for and by the people where they live and work”.

Ron Arias

Ron Arias' work has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers in the U.S. and Latin America for almost fifty years. A second-generation Mexican American, born in Los Angeles, he has published four non-fiction books, including Moving Target: A Memoir of Pursuit, several dozen fiction stories, and one novel, The Road to Tamazunchale (also in Spanish, El camino a Tamazunchale), which was nominated in 1976 for a National Book Award. He is currently working on a novel that interlaces the saga of a 16th-century British slave in New Spain and the present-day narrative of Mexican narcos and their captives and victims.

Ruben R. Mendoza is a Chicano from East San José, California. He has performed in Los Angeles since 1990 as a writer, scholar, educator, community organizer, and digital documentarian and artist. He teaches Chicana/o Studies and English Composition at East Los Angeles College and at Cal State University, Northridge. Since 2005, he has been developing "THE SICKLY SEASON—notes from mictlan," a crossmedia production/documentation of Chicana/o art and culture."

Sarah Rafael García started writing short stories and poetry after her father’s passing in 1988. She resided in Beijing, China in 2004 for a year and a half, teaching English to students of all ages and writing full-time. Since the publication of Las Niñas, A Collection of Childhood Memories in 2008, she has continued to share her writings and community outreach by founding Barrio Writers in 2009, a reading and writing program aimed to empower teenagers through creative writing, higher education and cultural arts. She also leads discussions for Wild Womyn Writers. Most recently, Sarah Rafael spent three months backpacking through Australia, exploring a new country while working on her second book. Her writings, workshops and lifestyle promote community empowerment, cultural awareness and global sharing. www.sarahrafaelgarcia.com   www.barriowriters.org
Facebook: Barrio Writers             Wild Womyn Writers            Sarah Rafael Garcia Fan Club

tatiana de la tierra

tatiana de la tierra (Villavicencio, Colombia, 1961). Born in Villavicencio, Colombia and raised in Miami, Florida, tatiana de la tierra is a bilingual bicultural writer whose work focuses on identity, sexuality, healing, spirituality, lesbian phenomenology, and South American memory and reality. de la tierra has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Texas at El Paso. She is the author of a bilingual book of lesbian poetic prose, For the Hard Ones: A Lesbian Phenomenology / Para las duras: Una fenomenología lesbiana (Calaca/Chibcha Press, 2002) and the Spanish-language children's book Xía y las mil sirenas (Xia and a Thousand Mermaids, Editorial Patlatonalli: Guadalajara, Mexico, 2009). She has several self-published chapbooks including tierra 2010: poems, songs & a little blood (May, 2010). She was co-founder and editor of the Latina lesbian magazines esto no tiene nombre and conmocion (1990-1995). Her essays, short stories and poetry have been published in a variety of journals, anthologies and encyclopedias since 1987.

At almost 58, hmmm years, my life seems simply about working with kids. A sassy 45 year old organization called California Poets in the School found me and gave me the sky to play with Poetry and budding Poets of California for the past 25 years. Short, tall, wheelchaired, biofocaled or blind every awakening color this garden of tomorrow; I get to honor the power of words and voice and children's tumbling spirits. I am a Poet in the schools. . . I rarely publish and so some think I've disappeared (or died) especially with the magic of computers. I have no e-life. I am a rascal dinosaur and hot stuff in any class I poet in, (o.k. high school can be prickly) . . . I honor voices and respectful mindful words to connect us to the world we dream or survive in. Social justice still fires this Poet Heart and so, in my garden, we work hard to celebrate evolving while noticing the details of differences or the ah-ha's of commonalities. It's seems simple, but I don't think it's easy to live as a Poet in a world with so many perfect imperfections that slam the human spirit.
100's of CPITS Poets work in classrooms public, renegade, private or charters; some travel to prisons and even mental institutions all under the flag of Poetry. Growing as a Poet-Teacher, I have gathered forces of creativity to weave a program of poetic
"into greation". Language, a hopeful river, poetry, part bridge, breathe and perspective, includes Visual Art in my classroom. Another Powerful language I use, worth our mindful journey of arriving and life changing moments. I am grateful to many Poets/Spirits who hold up the sky of Possibilities. I believe Poetry changes lives and I get to Live that Magic!
Veronica Cunningham

Vibiana Aparicio-Chamberlin

Vibiana Aparicio-Chamberlin, born and raised in East Los Angeles, is a poet, painter,
and a performance artist. Vibiana is proud to call herself Chicana. She writes about 'la vida cotidiana', the things of everyday life. Her vivid dream life is a source for much of her surrealistic poetry. She experiments with a collage of art, theater, storytelling and song to express slices of life. This wealth of theatricality is seen in her vibrant poetry. Her poetic imagery is both tender and dynamic, deeply personal and poignant. Thus creating an opulent body of work.

Her poems, Jesus in Tijuana and Con Ciega Pasíon were recently awarded with publication in Los Angeles County's Latino Heritage Month Calendar for 2009 and 2010. She cites Sr. Mary Corita, serigraph pioneer of Immaculate Heart College as a major influence in her art. Vibiana is also influenced by the surrealistic art of Remedios Varos and the angst driven art of Frida Kahlo. Her writing is reminiscent of the poetry of Sor. Juana Inez de la Cruz and shows admiration for the imaginative imagery of Pablo Neruda. Vibiana credits her mother, Isabel Luna Aparicio, a Mexican story teller and her father, Elias Rodriguez Aparicio, a spiritual and intellectual Mexican Indian as influencing her creative thinking.

Vibiana holds readings of her poetry in community venues and universities such as, The Gallery at the End of the World, The Ave. 50 Studio, The Latino Museum of History and Art, at The L. A. Theater Center, Pasadena City College, Occidental College, The Idyllwild Writers Institute and VONA, Voices of Our Nation, San Francisco.

In addition to a Bachelors in Bacteriology, Vibiana has earned masters in Theater Arts, Educational Administration, and in Resource Specialist, Special Education. She has studied Mexican Anthropology at Cal State L.A. and studio arts at Art Center College of Design, Chouinard and Self Help Graphics and Art.

Xánath Caraza is a traveler, educator, poet, and short story writer. She has published her original work and essays in Pilgrimage Magazine, Quercus Review, Antique Children, La Bloga, Pegaso, Latino Poetry Review Blog, Present Magazine, El Cid, and Utah Foreign Language Review. Additionally, her work has been published in the following anthologies: Woman's Work: The Short Stories (Girl Child Press, 2010), Cuentos del Centro: Stories from the Latino Heartland (Scapegoat Press, 2009), Primera Página: Poetry from the Latino Heartland (Scapegoat Press, 2008), and Más allá de las fronteras (Ediciones Nuevo Espacio, 2004). Her most recent published work is scheduled for release in 2010 in the following anthologies and journals: Poetry Anthology in Nahuatl, English, and Spanish, Aztlan Libre Press and 2010 Pegaso Literary Journal.

Xanath is a Board Member of the Latino Writers Collective, Kansas City, MO, and as well as a member of the Planning and Programming Committee for the Writers Place, Kansas City, MO. She is futhermore very happy to be a member of the Planning Committee of the 2010 Interfaith Readings, Kansas City, MO. Moreover, she will continue as the faculty moderator of the Student Oganization of Latinos at Rockhurst University, Kansas City's Jesuit university. At the University of Missouri-Kansas City, she is a member of the founding committee of the newly proposed Latina/o and Chicana/o Studies Program and a strong proponent of including Chicana/o in the official name of the UMKC program. Xanath is also the editor of the upcoming bilingual on-line magazine Dicho: Latino Magazine of Literature and Art of the Latino Writers Collective.