MEET OUR 80 XICANA CONTRIBUTORS

Xicana Trailblazers & Poet Laureates

To find out more about each contributor, click on their photograph

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Ana Castillo

Distinguished Xicana poet,  novelist, renowned feminist intellectual, independent researcher and visual artist. ​

Irene I. Blea

Illustrious poet, novelist, activist and former Chairperson of the Chicano Studies Dept. at, CSU, Los Angeles.

Lorna Dee Cervantes

Renowned Chicana poet and activist, and a fifth-generation Californian of  Chumash heritage.

Carmen Tafolla

 Celebrated activist, author of 40 books, first Poet Laureate of San Antonio, 2015 Texas State Poet Laureate.

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Ada Limón 

The 24th Poet Laureate of the United States, and author of 6 books of poems including You Are Here.

Melinda Palacio

The first Chicana Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara, and award-winning novelist.. 

ire'ne lara silva

The 2023 Texas State Poet Laureate, is the author of five poetry collections.

Angie Trudell Vasquez

The first Chicana Poet Laureate of the City of Madison, Wisconsin.   

CONTRIBUTORS APPEAR IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
​(More coming soon)

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​Angela Acosta, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Spanish at the University of South Carolina. Her Rhysling and Utopia Award nominated writing has appeared in Somos en Escrito, Apparition Lit, Radon Journal, and Space & Time. She is author of Summoning Space Travelers (Hiraeth Publishing) and A Belief in Cosmic Dailiness (Red Ogre Review).

​Dahlia Aguilar, a mother and emergent writer from Texas lives in Washington, D.C. She’s an alum of Under the Volcano and her manuscript Tidal Range was a finalist for the Louise Bogan Poetry Award 2024. Her poems appear in Naugatuck River Review, Boundless 2024, Write Until You Cry and The Skinny Journal.

 Axolotita is a first-generation Xicana who survived Y2K and a world plague, and now wields the power of the pen to document/explore chaos and to dream. Warning: side effects of reading may include laughter, tears, and the strong desire to question everything. 

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Rosanna Alvarez is a braided storyteller, educator, artist, mother to three guerreras, and a trucker's wife. She is the author of Braided [Un]Be-Longing, a poetry collection that weaves together the most unanticipated spaces of poetic legacy found in the everyday and in everybody. She is the Co-Founder of Eastside Magazine, an alum of the Macondo Writers Workshop.

​Juliana Aragón Fatula is author of Crazy Chicana in Catholic City, Red Canyon Falling on Churches, winner of the High Plains Book Award for Poetry 2016, and author of the chapbook: The Road I Ride Bleeds. Juliana is also a member of Colorado Alliance of Latino Mentors and Authors, and Macondo writer. She mentors for Bridging Borders, a Teen Leadership Program for girls. No justice, no peace.

​Erika Ayón's debut poetry collection, Orange Lady, received Honorable Mention for Poetry at the 2019 International Latino Book Awards. She graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in English. She is a former PEN Emerging Voices Fellow and has taught poetry to middle and high school students across L.A. Her work has appeared in various journals. She emigrated from Mexico when she was five and grew up in South Central L.A.

Carmen Baca is the author of six books and a variety of short publications in diverse genres. She received New Mexico Magazine’s 2023 True Hero award for celebrating and preserving her culture through story telling. Two of her short works were nominated to Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize also in 2023.

Victoria (Vicky) Bañales, a Chicanx educator and writer, is the founder and editor of Xinachtli Journal—Journal X—a social justice literary arts magazine. Her work has been widely published. She received her Ph.D. in Literature and Feminist Studies from the University of California-Santa Cruz, and teaches Chicanx/Latinx literature, fiction writing, and English composition at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz County, CA.

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo is author of Posada: Offerings of Witness and Refuge (Sundress Publications) and Incantation: Love Poems for Battle Sites (Mouthfeel Press). A former Steinbeck Fellow and Poets & Writers California Writers Exchange winner, her poem “Battlegrounds” was featured at Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day, On Being’s Poetry Unbound, and elsewhere. She teaches at Antioch University MFA and UCLA Extension and is the director of WWS.

Xánath Caraza is an award winning translator & author of 20 books of poetry and two short story collections. In 2018, she received First Place for Lágrima roja for “Best Book of Poetry in Spanish by One Author” and First Place for Sin preámbulos / Without Preamble for “Best Book of Bilingual Poetry” in the International Latino Book Awards.  

​Dr. Elvira Carrizal-Dukes is a Xicana, native New Mexican and graphic novelist. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Rhetoric and Composition, a Master of Fine Arts in Film, and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Chicano Studies and a minor in Theatre Arts. She produced Cholx counterstory to center Cholo and Chola culture.

Dr. Vanessa Marie Bustamante, born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, CA, is a first-generation, bilingual, queer Xicana sCHOLAr, who is a founding sister of Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc. at CSUN. Vanessa is a former member of MEChA and the First Queer/Muxer Chair of LRUP. Vanessa earned a B.A. in Chicanx and Communication Studies and an M.A. in Higher Education Admin. from CSUN, and the Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership from the University of Southern California.

Loretta Carpio Carr was raised in Selma, California, the daughter of a Mexican mother and Anglo father. She has taught English, ESL, and citizenship classes in Sonoma. Her writing has been published in the Sonoma Valley Sun newspaper, Sonoma State University’s 2017 fire anthology Dear Sonoma, and San Joaquin Valley Writers’ anthology Great Valley Stories.  

Erica Castro, a Xicana English high school teacher for 27 years,is dedicated to helping and empowering her students through publishing their art, poetry and stories via The Oracle school anthology. She recently launched Daxson Publishing to champion marginalized voices, as she has in Rosalilia Mendoza’s Lili of the Valley, and Adrian Fuerte-Campos’ In Solace. She is the author of The Pain Left Behind: Surviving a Suicide Loss and Creating Peace through the Grieving Process. You may connect with Erica via Instagram: erica_lopez74. 

​Isabel Cerero, born and raised in Chicago to two first generation Mexican parents, graduated with a B.A. in teaching of Spanish from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2022 and at present works at Little Village Lawndale High School. Isabel was drawn to explore the arts in Mexican folkloric dance, as a way to interpret the Xicana experience, which led her to writing poetry. which will debut in Somos Xicanas. 

 Esther Garcia is a proud daughter of New Mexico. Esther emphasizes preserving oral histories and has utilized writing, photography, art, and short films to document local culture and practices. Her art comes from her heart, her life experiences, expressions of home, and the community where she feels nurtured and safe.

Elisa A. Garza is a poet, editor, and former writing and literature teacher.  Her full-length collection, Regalos (Lamar University Literary Press) was a finalist for the National Poetry Series.  She has also written three chapbooks, including Between the Light / entre la claridad, and The Body, Cancerous, forthcoming in 2025 (both from Mouthfeel Press). 

Elisabeth Contreras-Moran is an environmental scientist turned writer and poet. She earned degrees from Princeton University and John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and became a doctoral candidate at City University of New York’s Graduate Center before she moved to rural England. Elisabeth writes and illustrates children’s books. Her poetry has appeared in Litro Magazine, Mystic Owl, Moss Puppy Magazine and The Acentos Review, among others. 

Candi Cipactli Corral (she, her, ella), is a Xicanx indígena (Mexica Tribe), Brown Beret, and first generation, with a Ph.D. in Political Science. She is an Assistant Teaching Professor in Ethnic Studies. Her poetry reflects ARTivism for revolution, rematriation, and decolonial ways of healing. She works on decolonizing life practices and reclaiming ancestral traditions with Queer BIPOC. As a guerrera en Mujeres de Aztlán, she works closely with indígena and Xicanx coalitions.

Dulciana Rosario Corral (she/her/ella) is a young, Indigenous Xicana activist, Brown Beret cadet, artist, and writer who promotes revolutionary healing ways for youth as an alternative to mainstream healing. She is a first-year undergraduate, double majoring in Biomedical Science and Music. For the past three years, she has been revitalizing her Indigenous language, Nahuatl. Her artwork can be found at the Etsy shop titled TzopelicByDulce. 

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MORE TO COME!