Daniel García Ordaz, a.k.a. The Poet Mariachi is a singer-songwriter, teacher and author from Mission, Texas. He is also a TEDx Speaker, Navy veteran, 2018 Pushcart Prize nominee, and the 2023 McAllen Poet Laureate, City of McAllen, Texas. García Ordaz’s Christian faith permeates much of his writing, which is seasoned with influences from his Mexican American upbringing. He earned a BA in English from The University Of Texas-Pan American (UTPA, now the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley) and an MFA in Creative Writing from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), and he appears in the documentary ALTAR: Cruzando fronteras/Building Bridges (2009). His books include You Know What I'm Sayin'? (El Zarape Press, 2006), Cenzontle/Mockingbird: Songs of Empowerment (FlowerSong Press, 2018) and its YA Edition, as well as Read Until You Bleed: Funny & Thoughtful Poems For Funny & Thoughtful Children (El Zarape Press, 2023). García Ordaz's work has appeared in numerous anthologies, including Asina Is How We Talk (FlowerSong Press, 2022); Good Cop/Bad Cop (FlowerSong Press, 2021); Living Beyond Borders: Growing Up Mexican In America (Penguin Random House, 2021); Puro Chicanx Writers of the 21st Century (Cutthroat: A Journal of the Arts, 2020); Poetry of Resistance: Voices For Social Justice (University of Arizona Press, 2016); Twenty: In Memoriam (El Zarape Press, 2014); and Boundless, the anthology of the Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival, which he founded. He may be found on social media at @poetmariachi.

Paolo Piscitelli is a Visiting Lecturer in Sculpture in the Department of Studio Arts at University of Pittsburgh. Influenced by the atmosphere of the Arte Povera movement, he has worked in a broad range of techniques and disciplines including drawing, sculpture, installation, digital media, phenomenological experimentation with materials and their interaction with time. His sculpture prioritizes a sustainable ecological practice developed, in part, through traveling and teaching. Piscitelli’s current work and research involve the use of simple hand tools to carve small-scale sculptures assessed with sight and touch. Piscitelli has exhibited internationally, doing many shows in private spaces–like Studio Tucci Russo, Torre Pellice and e/static, Turin (Italy); Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam (Holland)--as well as in public spaces like Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (GAM) in Torino and in Bologna, Museo Laboratorio di Arte Contemporanea (MLAC) - Sapienza, Rome; and Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (Italy); the FRAC-Bourgogne in Dijon (France); Lawndale Art Center, Houston, TX and the Museum of Art, Denver, CO (United States). He holds BFA and MA degrees in Sculpture from Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti in Turin, Italy, and an MFA in Creative Practice from the Transart Institute in the School of Art and Media at University of Plymouth, UK. Piscitelli lives and works in Pittsburgh, PA. See more of his work at: artpaolo.com.

Dr. José E. Balcells Gallarreta is the Executive Director of Iodea, a non-profit organization providing religious educational programs. At Iodea, Balcells explores how to make theological studies more engaging and effective by using proven methods of instruction that integrate Digital Tutor (DT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. Prior to this, he taught at several universities in California and in Puerto Rico. Dr. Balcells holds an MA in Biblical Languages from the Jesuit School of Theology of Berkeley and a PhD in Biblical Studies, with an emphasis on texts of Second Temple Judaism and the archaeology of the Ancient Near East of the Persian period, from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. His article “Old Testament Archaeology.” appears in The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century (Bloomsbury, 2022). Part of his research has focused on the integration of archaeology with biblical studies. One of his most important projects in this area was the publication of Household and Family Religion in Persian-Period Judah: An Archaeological Approach (SBL Press, 2017) as part of the Society of Biblical Literature’s Ancient Near East Monograph Series. He has participated in archaeological excavations in Tel Akko and Tel Azekah, Israel. He also has been involved with other projects related to the archaeology of the ancient Near East. Professional memberships include: American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), Asociación Bíblica Española (ABE), and Society of Biblical Literature (SBL).

Sudabée Lotfian-Mena is in her first year of the doctoral theology program at the University of Dayton. She is a multi-racial, multi-ethnic Latina-Middle Eastern scholar whose area of study focuses on First-World neoliberal and globalist schemes and their effects on the Third World. She hopes to explore the implications of these postcolonial/decolonial realities for the religious sphere, both in Latin America and in transplanted population spaces.

Edward Vidaurre is an award-winning poet and author of eight collections of poetry, including Cry, Howl (Prickly Pear Publishing, 2021) and By Throat, By Miracle: New & Selected Poems (Luchadora Press, 2023). His writings have also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Texas Observer, and Los Angeles Review of Books, as well as in other journals and anthologies. He is the publisher and editor-in-chief of FlowerSong Press and its sister imprint Juventud Press, as well as the founder of Pasta, Poetry & Vino and Barrio Poet Productions. He was the 2018-2019 City of McAllen, Texas Poet Laureate; a recipient of an Award of Merit 2020 by The Philosophical Society of Texas for Best Book of Poetry by a Texas Author; and a 2022 inductee to the Texas Institute of Letters. Vidaurre—a Californian of Salvadoran ancestry born in East Los Angeles and transplanted to the Texas borderlands—resides in McAllen, TX with his wife and daughter, where they foster dogs in need until they find their forever homes.

Charles Alcorn has lived in and written about Texas his entire life. A former all-state linebacker, Alcorn founded Splendid Seed Tobacco Company, was a sportswriter, and worked as a packaged goods copywriter before receiving his PhD in English Literature/Creative Writing (Fiction) from the University of Houston. Alcorn is the author of the short-story collection Argument Against the Good-Looking Corpse (Texas Review Press, 2011). Beneath the Sands of Monahans (Deep Vellum Publishing, 2023) is his debut novel. Alcorn currently lives in Edinburg, Texas on the US-Mexico border.

Dr. Nely Galán is a self-made media and real-estate entrepreneur. She was born in Santa Clara, Cuba and raised in Teaneck, New Jersey. Dr. Galán became the first Latina President of Entertainment for a U.S. television network—Telemundo—and an Emmy Award-winning producer of over 700 television shows in English and Spanish, including the hit reality series The Swan for 20th Century Fox, produced through her multimedia company Galan Entertainment. The company has created more than 700 television shows in English and in Spanish, helping to launch over 10 television channels around the world for companies like HBO, ESPN, FOX, MGM, and Sony. She holds a master’s and a doctorate in Clinical Psychology, with a focus on the psychology of money in multicultural communities.

Dr. Galán’s New York Times-bestselling book SELF MADE: Becoming Empowered, Self-Reliant, and Rich in Every Way (Spiegel & Grau, 2016; published in English, Spanish, and Mandarin) is an entrepreneurship-for-women manifesto that coined the phrase “Don’t buy shoes; buy buildings.” Her digital platform Becoming Self Made offers financial literacy content, including webinars and stories of self-made women of color. Money Maker/Mi mundo rico with Nely Galán (Money News Network), which targets listeners who have traditionally been denied a seat at the table, is the only business and entrepreneurship podcast for a mainstream audience with episodes in English and in Spanish. Dr. Galán is the founder of the 501c3 nonprofit The Adelante Movement, a national motivational tour and digital platform that unites and empowers Latinas socially, economically, and politically. Currently, Dr. Galán serves on the Aspen Institute’s Latinos and Society Advisory Board; formerly, she served as a board member of the Smithsonian Institute and of The Hispanic Scholarship Fund. She is the mom of Lukas Rodríguez and is based in Miami Beach, Florida.

Dlia Adassa McDonald Woolery is an Afro-Costa Rican and Afro-Panamanian poet and essayist. Since 1997, she has been the director of the Don Chico Creation Workshops and director of the Francisco Zúñiga Díaz Cultural Café, in San José, Costa Rica. She is the founder and columnist of the art and literary criticism blog “La coleccionista de espejos” and a founding member of the Center for the Study of Ethnic Culture in Costa Rica. Her poetic works include El séptimo círculo del obelisco (Ediciones El Café Cultura, 1993), Sangre de madera (Ediciones El Café Cultural Francisco Zúñiga Díaz, 1995), …la lluvia es una piel (Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud, 2000), Instinto tribal…: Antología poética personal (Ediciones Kike y Tetey, 2004), Voces Indelebles (co-edited with Shirley Campbell, Universidad Nacional, 2010), and Todas las voces que canta el mar (Sediento Ediciones, México, 2012). Her poetry has been the subject of study for nine North American and European universities. In 2009, Woolery became the second Central American to be inducted into the Library of Congress, and her work has been featured in Place, Language, and Identity in Afro-Costa Rican Literature by Dorothy E. Mosby (University of Missouri, 2004); Under a Quicksilver Moon (Library of Congress, 2002); Woman Unfolding the City, edited by Anne Lambright and Elizabeth Guerrero (University of Minnesota, 2005); and meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism, edited by Kwame Dixon (University of Syracuse / Universidad de Salamanca, 2003); among other publications. She was a finalist for the 2001 International Library of Poetry contest, organized by poetry.com, and received the 2004 Queen Mumuhusa trophy, awarded by the African Diaspora Association. Woolery has been a member of the Association of Colonense Writers (Panama) since 2015.

Isabel Gonzalez is an MDiv graduate from Princeton Theological Seminary (2024) and currently serves as Communications Coordinator at the Hispanic Theological Initiative (HTI) where she amplifies and celebrates the stories of Latine leaders and scholars in higher education. Gonzalez earned her Bachelor of the Arts in Biblical Religious Studies and English at Messiah University (2020). Driven by her passion for research and writing, she plans to pursue a PhD. Gonzalez is originally from Reading, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Natasha Gordon-Chipembere is a professor of African Diasporic literature and of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. She holds a PhD in English from the University of South Africa. Her dissertation focused on Sarah Baartman, “an enslaved Khoisan woman in the early 19th century who was taken to Europe and made to work in ‘freak shows,’” and appears in the anthology she co-edited, Representation and Black Womanhood: The Legacy of Sarah Baartman (Springer, 2011). Dr. Gordon-Chipembere’s writing has also been published in Essence Magazine, along with a monthly series, “Musings from An Afro-Costa Rican,” in the Tico Times. She is a Senior Co-editor with Eduardo Paulino of the AfroLatin@ Diasporas Book Series from Palgrave, where they prioritize the voices of emerging Afro-Latin@ scholars. Her current writing focuses on slavery and the legacy of Afro-descendants in Latin America, including her historical fiction novel Finding La Negrita (Jaded Ibis Press, 2022). Dr. Gordon-Chipembere is the founder and host of the annual Tengo Sed Writing Retreats in Costa Rica, an exclusive gathering of global BIPOC writers in Costa Rica for a week. She was born in New York to Costa Rican/Panamanian parents and eventually moved to Costa Rica with her husband and two children.

Christian Silva is an MA candidate in theology and history at Princeton Theological Seminary. He received his BA from Moody Bible College. As a Chicano, he values the intersection of social justice, theology, and the Mexican-American experience, seeking to do theology and studies pa' la gente. Silva also values his particulars as a biracial Chicano whose familial roots can be traced to pre-Guadalupe Hidalgo, Texas and New Mexico. He enjoys exploring Latinx theologies and histories just as much as he loves cooking family recipes.

Alma Lizzette Cárdenas-Rodríguez is a countercultural and faith-rooted writer, speaker, and mentor. She currently serves as an academic advisor for graduate students at Fuller Theological Seminary. A Mexico-Estadounidense born and raised in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, she is the daughter of parents who migrated from Mexico’s Durango and Jalisco states. Her upbringing was heavily influenced by her protestant Latina faith community whose unwillingness to engage or answer her questions led her to seminary school. Cárdenas-Rodríguez holds an MA in Transformational Urban Leadership from Azusa Pacific University, an Urban Youth Workers Certificate from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a Bachelor in Christian Ministry from Facultad de Teología. She has over ten years experience in co-leading and mentoring youth and young adults at a local multi-generational Latina congregation in the San Fernando Valley, and other non-profit spaces. Cárdenas-Rodríguez is the author of Groanings from the Desert (Alegría Publishing, 2020). Through her writing, she hopes to encourage youth and women of color in faith, academic, and community spaces by sharing her story and facilitating workshops to help write visions to light. In her free time, she enjoys hanging out at local coffee shops; being in the company of her daughters, family, friends, or a good book; silent retreats; and exploring the outdoors or dreaming with her husband Sergio.

Erasmo Guerra is the author of the Lambda Literary Award-winning novel Between Dances (Painted Leaf Press, 2000) and the story collection Once More to the River: Family Snapshots of Growing Up, Getting Out and Going Back (CreateSpace, 2012). He was a longtime freelance contributor to the Daily News, covering the New York Latino immigrant community, and he was the research editor at Cosmopolitan for Latina Magazine during its print run. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Texas Monthly, Texas Observer, and a number of literary anthologies. Guerra holds a BA in Creative Writing from The New School. He was born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley on the U.S.-Mexico border and currently lives in New York City.

liz gonzález is the author of the historical creative nonfiction chapbook The Original OLG: San Bernardino’s First Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, forthcoming from Los Nietos Press; the multi-genre book Dancing in the Santa Ana Winds: Poems y Cuentos New and Selected (Los Nietos Press, 2018); and the poetry collection Beneath Bone (Manifest Press, 2000). Her creative nonfiction and poetry appear in various journals and anthologies, including Air/Light, Poets & Writers Magazine, San Bernardino Singing, The International Literary Quarterly, and Puro Chicanx Writers of the 21st Century. gonzález’s honors include the Arts Council for Long Beach Incite / Insight Award for her community work in North Long Beach through Uptown Word & Arts, a literary and arts series she co-founded with her spouse; an Arts Council for Long Beach Professional Artist Fellowship; an Elizabeth George Foundation Artistic Grant; and an Irvine Fellowship at the Lucas Artists Residency Program. In 2016, she founded Women's Write Inn, a rotating group of women poets and writers that meet regularly to write alone together and support each other. She teaches creative writing at the UCLA Extension Writers' Program. A fourth-generation Californian, gonzález lives in Long Beach.

Richard Vargas was born and raised in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, California. He earned a BA at California State University, Long Beach, where he studied under American poets Gerald Locklin and Richard Lee, and earned an MFA from the University of New Mexico. Vargas edited and/or published five issues of The Tequila Review (1977-1980) and twelve issues of The Mas Tequila Review (2010-2015). A recipient of the 2011 Taos Summer Writers’ Conference’s Hispanic Writer Award, he was on the faculty of the 2012 10th National Latino Writers Conference and of the 2015 Taos Summer Writers’ Conference. Vargas is the author of five collections of poetry: McLife (Main Street Rag, 2005), American Jesus: Poems (Tia Chucha Press, 2007), Guernica, revisited (Press 53, 2014), How A Civilization Begins (Mouthfeel Press, 2022), and Leaving A Tip At The Blue Moon Motel (Casa Urraca Press, forthcoming in 2023). He currently resides in Wisconsin, near the lake where Otis Redding’s plane crashed.

Amanda Calderón is a third-year MDiv (2023) student at Princeton Theological Seminary and a student aide at the Hispanic Theological Initiative (HTI). Born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, she holds a bachelor’s degree in Education from Temple University. Calderón has a heart for God, a passion for people, and an outstretched hand to those in the margins, specifically in education and in the Latinx community, to bring truth and light to those who have been crushed by the power of darkness.

Emanuel Padilla is president of World Outspoken, a ministry preparing the mestizo church for cultural change. After years as an undergraduate instructor, he now develops accessible resources and training for bi-cultural Christians facing questions of identity, culture, and theology. Emanuel is completing a PhD in Theological and Ethical studies at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. He also serves at The Brook, a church on the northwest side of Chicago, along with his wife Kelly. Connect with him on Facebook and Twitter for more on his research into theology and culture.

José A. Pérez is a poet, actor, and foster-care reform/abolitionist advocate. A native New Yorker, he grew up in Queens as a systems-impacted person in foster homes, group homes, and other juvenile institutions. For Pérez, the arts have been synonymous with freedom, fostering spaces where relationships are forged under the common love for lyrics and unfettered expression. He especially found writing poetry and acting on stage to be his catalysts not only to survive in those institutions but also to thrive. While incarcerated, Pérez earned an AA from Bard College, a BS from Nyack College through HudsonLink, and capped his academic career with an MPS from the New York Theological Seminary. He has facilitated theater and poetry workshops, including the Harvest Moon Poetry Collective with Beat poet Janine Pommy Vega, and hosted poets like Naomi Shihab Nye and Amiri Baraka. As an actor, Pérez recently performed at the Bushwick Starr Theater in Quince (One Whale’s Tale Productions, 2022). He has also been a servant leader as an alternatives-to-violence facilitator, including work with gang-involved youth at the Center for Alternatives Sentencing and Employment Services as a community Benefits Project Supervisor. Currently, Pérez is Project Manager of YouthNPower: Transforming Care for the Children’s Defense Fund.

Dr. Jennifer A. Baez, Assistant Professor of Art History in the School of Art + Art History + Design at University of Washington, specializes in the visual, material, and religious culture of Latin America and the African diaspora under the global Spanish empire. She received her PhD in art history from Florida State University, where she taught courses in museum studies and the history of African art. She also holds and MA in Art History from University of Arizona; and MA in Translation and Interpretation from Monterey Institute of International Studies, and a BFA in Painting and Printmaking (with a minor in Romance Languages) from SUNY Purchase College. Her current book project on the miraculous icon of the Virgin of Altagracia in colonial Hispaniola is a microhistory exploring intersections between Marian devotion, artistic practice, race, and the formation of Spanish Creole origin stories. She is also interested in contemporary Caribbean and Latinx art, and writes on monuments, heritage, and issues of gender, race, and representation.

Her work has appeared in several journals and academic platforms, including Hyperallergic, Small Axe, Arts, Smarthistory, and in the Art & Architecture ePortal of Yale University Press (forthcoming). Several grants and fellowships have supported her research, including a Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation award. She was also selected to participate in the 6th annual Curatorial Foundation Seminar hosted by the Mellon Foundation and the Center for Curatorial Leadership in New York City. Dr. Baez is currently working on an exhibition on salt and cross-cultural artistic exchange in the Black Mediterranean. Professional affiliations: College Art Association (CAA), Association of Latin American Art (ALAA), Renaissance Society of America (RSA), and the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) section for Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Dr. Valentina Napolitano is Professor of Anthropology and Connaught Scholar at the University of Toronto. Her work engages with anthropological, political theological and critical theory debates about personhood, migration, traces, borderlands, and the religious. Among other work, she is the author of two monographs—Migrant Hearts and the Atlantic Return: Transnationalism and the Roman Catholic Church (Fordham University Press, 2015) and Migration, Mujercitas and Medicine Man: Living in Urban Mexico (University of California Press, 2002)—and different edited collections and articles. She is the recipient of the Connaught Global Challenge Award for the project Entangled Worlds: Sovereignty, Sanctities and Soil (with Prof. Simon Coleman), a tri-campus University of Toronto Initiative, and she herself navigates different threads of life through the soil and histories of the Americas, the trans- Mediterranean and West Africa.