ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Yaxkin Melchy Ramos (Mexico City, 1985) is a Mexican and Peruvian-Quechua poet, translator, ecopoetics researcher, and artisan-activist editor. He is the author of THE NEW WORLD, a five-part “constellation-book” which was written intermittently between 2007 and 2017. Currently he is a graduate student at Tsukuba University in Japan, where he is researching ecopoetic currents between Japan and Latin America. Since 2017, he has been translating contemporary Japanese poetry to Spanish, and currently he runs the artisanal press Cactus del viento, which focuses on ecological, spiritual, and transpacific poetics. He also publishes on his personal blog, Flor de Amaneceres.

About The Translator

Ryan Greene (b. 1994) is a translator, book farmer, and poet from Phoenix, Arizona who is currently working with Yaxkin Melchy to translate the first three books of THE NEW WORLD. He's a co-conspirator at F*%K IF I KNOW//BOOKS [www.fiikbooks.org] and a housemate at no.good.home [www.nogoodhome.com]. His translations include work by Elena Salamanca, Claudina Domingo, Ana Belén López, Giancarlo Huapaya, and Yaxkin Melchy, among others. Since 2018, he has co-facilitated the Cardboard House Press Cartonera Collective bookmaking workshops at Palabras Bilingual Bookstore. Like Collier, the ground he stands on is not his ground. 103

Contributors

Lujain Al-Saleh (she/her) is a public health advocate and writer living in Oakland, CA, Ohlone land. Lujain holds a degree in Environmental Science & Management with minors in Professional Writing and Middle East & South Asia Studies from UC Davis. She also graduated from the Master of Public Health program at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health in 2020. Along with her role as the East Oakland Clean Air Project Coordinator at Communities for a Better Environment, Lujain writes as a freelance writer for KneeDeep Times, a online magazine that features stories of climate resilience. Lujain’s piece “To the Hardware In My Leg” is an essay and was written to honor her hardware and experience as a survivor of traffic violence.

Violet Alexis Bea is a queer BIPOC artist currently based out of the bay area. She moved to the USA all the way from India. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Comics. Her work is grungy and psychedelic with attention to detail. She loves drawing reptiles, mechanical/architectural detail and funky alien creatures. You can check out all of her latest work on Instagram @violetalexisbea.

Kwame Sound Daniels is an artist based out of Maryland. Xe are an Anaphora Arts Residency Fellow and currently working toward an MFA in Writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Xir first book Light Spun came out with Perennial Press in 2022. Xir second volume, the pause and the breath, came out with Atmosphere Press Jan. 25th of 2023. Xe like to learn plant medicine and paint in xir spare time.

Karen Gomez is an amateur jack of all trades based in Redwood City, CA. She loves to use many forms of art to express herself, like music, painting, photography, and writing. She plans transfer to UC Berkley, graduate with a Psychology degree and become a Clinical Psychologist.

Daniel Gonzalez was born in Anaheim, California, and earned his MFA in Creative Writing from CSULB, where he served as the senior editor of Fiction for RipRap Journal. He has written an award-wining short film Matty Groves and has short fiction & poetry published in ANGLES, About Place Journal, Allium, and The Ana, among others. He enjoys playing with his dog and writing about morality, death, and those small human moments which we all share.

Akasha Neely (she/they) was born in Chicago, Illinois. They are a nonbinary femme person who currently resides in San Francisco.

Abigail Pak is a queer, California-based writer. She earned a bachelor's degree in English from Westmont College and has had pieces published in Phoenix Magazine, The Inkslinger, and Apricity Magazine.

Robert Pettus is an English as a Second Language teacher at the University of Cincinnati. Previously, he taught for four years in a combination of rural Thailand and Moscow, Russia. He was most recently accepted for publication at The Horror Zine, Allegory Magazine, The Horror Tree, The Ana, JAKE magazine, The Night Shift podcast, Libretto publications, White Cat Publications, Culture Cult, Savage Planet, ShortStory.me, White-Enso, Tall Tale TV, The Corner Bar, A Thin Line of Anxiety, Schlock!, Black Petals, Inscape Literary Journal of Morehead State University, Yellow Mama, Apocalypse-Confidential, Mystery Tribune, Blood Moon Rising, and The Green Shoes Sanctuary. His first novel, titled Abry, was released earlier this spring. He lives in Kentucky with his wife, Mary, and his pet rabbit, Achilles.

Sophia Quinto is a first-year Writing and Literature major at UC Santa Barbara's College of Creative Studies. She mainly writes fiction that revolves around family. Her other work has either appeared in or is forthcoming in Revolution Publication, The Bayou Review, The Bitchin' Kitsch, and MakeNoiseToday's "Letters To..." exhibition.

Erick Sáenz is a writer living & working in San Francisco. He is the author of two collections of poetry; Susurros a mi padre (The OS // 2018) & Lucid Traversal (Selfpublished // 2021), and one collection of fiction; This is my exit: stories (Little Skull Press // 2021). His chapbooks & zines include An Essay, A Ritual (2022), Semillas de Tamarindo (2018), Summer Forever (2018), Three Stories (2017), and 2 stories (2015). You can find additional writing online.

He was previously a contributing editor for Cheers From The Wasteland, an online magazine based out of San Jose, CA. He ran a punk record label from 2007 - 2012 releasing bands from across the United States and Europe. In 2014 he founded Lilac Press, a small DIY imprint.

Jesse Strohauer is a multidisciplinary artist/writer based in Brooklyn, NY. Their work deals with themes of spirituality, mental illness, and the points where they intersect. More of their work can be found at Christiangirlautumn_art on instagram.