Now I'd like to introduce our next reader who
is someone that--
a poet that I have long admired, who I respect,
who I just am in awe over the work that they create and just
admire a whole bunch as I've said before,
but I'd like to introduce Vanessa Angélica Villarreal.
Vanessa Angélica Villarreal was born in the Rio Grande Valley
to Mexican immigrants.
She's the author of the 2019 Whiting Award winning
collection, Beast Meridian, published by Noemi Press,
Akrilica series, 2017.
She's also 2019 Kate Tufts Discovery Award finalist
and winner of the John A. Robertson
award for Best First Book of Poetry
from the Texas Institute of Letters.
Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Paris Review,
Boston Review, and Poetry magazine where her poem "f =
[(root) (future)]" was honored with the 2019 Friends
of Literature Prize.
She's a CantoMundo and Jack Jones literary arts fellow
and is a doctoral candidate in English literature
and creative writing at the University
of Southern California in Los Angeles
where she raising her son with the help of a loyal dog.
You can find her on Twitter @VanessaID.
Thank you, Vanessa, for being here with us today
and just for your presence every step of the way.
Thank you.