Justin Torres

Justin Torres grew up in upstate New York, the setting of his first novel, We the Animals. Michael Cunningham calls this bi-cultural coming-of-age story, “a dark jewel of a book.” Torres is a recipient of the Rolón United States Artist Fellowship in Literature, and is now a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford.

Alberto Ríos

Alberto Álvaro Ríos, born in 1952 in Nogales, Arizona, is the author of ten books and chapbooks of poetry, three collections of short stories, and a memoir.  His most recent book of poems is The Dangerous Shirt.  His memoir about growing up on the Mexico-Arizona border—called Capirotada—won the Latino Literary Hall of Fame Award and, was designated as the One Book Arizona choice for 2009. His many awards include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Ríos is a Regents’ Professor at Arizona State University.