I am the author of Next Extinct Mammal (Greenhouse Review Press, 2011) and translator of Luis Cernuda: Exiled from the Throne of Night (Aureole Press, 2008).

I am an Assistant Professor of English and Affiliate Faculty for the Center for the Humanities at Eastern Illinois University where I teach Digital Storytelling, Poetry and Poetics, Cultural/Literary Theory and Criticism.

I am Founding Editor of Codex Journal  , Poetry Editor at The Cossack Review, and Co-Founder of Stories & Queer. My writing has appeared in The American Poetry Review, The California Journal of Poetics, Guernica, Cimarron Review, Southern California Review, Third Coast, The Rumpus, and Rattle.

I studied creative writing & writing for the performing arts under Christopher Buckley, Maurya Simon, Susan Straight, Chris Abani, Juan Felipe Herrera, Carlos Morton, Brian Brophy and Gary Soto at University of California, Riverside. And poetry and poetics under Jacqueline Kolosov, William Wenthe, John Poch, and James Whitlark at Texas Tech University.

I have been a fellow and resident at CantoMundo, Napa Valley Writers’ Conference, Vermont Studio Center, Squaw Valley Community of Writers, Santa Fe Art Institute, Lambda Literary Foundation Writer’s Retreat, and Idyllwild Arts Program.

I spent my childhood in South Central Los Angeles, spending most of my time in Hollywood and in Long Beach. My single mother from Costa Rica raised me; I presently live in Central Illinois.

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