César L. de León

César Leonardo de León is the author of speaking with grackles by soapberry trees (FlowerSong, 2021), winner of the Texas Institute of Letters John A. Robertson Award for the best first book of poetry (2021) and of the Philosophical Society of Texas Best Book of Poetry award (2022).  Also a Golden Circle Award recipient from The University of Columbia Press, he holds an MFA in creative writing, with a certificate in Mexican American studies from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He is an educator, one of four poet-organizers for Poets Against Walls, and a member of the Macondo Writers Workshop. His work has appeared in Queen Mob’s Tea House, Pilgrimage, The Acentos Review, Yellow Chair Review, La Bloga, Zócalo Public Square, and in the anthologies Asina is How We Talk: A collection of Tejano poetry written en la lengua de la gente (Flowersong Press, 2022), Pulse/Pulso: In Remembrance of Orlando (Damaged Goods Press, 2018), Imaniman: Poets Writing in the Anzaldúan Borderlands (Aunt Lute Books, 2016), The Border Crossed Us: An Anthology to End Apartheid (VAGABOND, 2015), and Texas Weather Anthology (Lamar University Press, 2016), among others.