Lupe Mendez, originally from Galveston, TX, is the author of the poetry collection Why I Am Like Tequila (Willow Books, 2019), which won the 2019 John A. Robertson Prize for Best First Book of Poetry. He earned an MFA in creative writing (poetry) from the University of Texas at El Paso. His work has appeared in Luna Luna, Hunger Mountain, Border Senses,the Texas Review, Latino Rebels, Norton’s Anthology of Latino Sudden Fiction, the Breakbeat Poets Vol. IV: LatiNeXt, Gulf Coast, Kenyon Review and Poetry Magazine, among others. He has received fellowships from CantoMundo, Macondo, and the Crescendo Literary/Poetry Foundation’s Poetry Incubator. He is a co-founder of the Librotraficante Movement and the founder of Tintero Projects, a grassroots organization that provides a platform for writers of color, especially in the Latinx community, along the Texas Gulf Coast and beyond. Lupe has been an educator for 20 years and resides in Houston, TX.