Xochiquetzal Candelaria is the author of Empire. Her work has appeared in The Nation, Tin House, New England Review, Seneca Review, and other magazines. She holds degrees from University of California, Berkeley and New York University and is the recipient of awards including an NEA Fellowship in Poetry and grants from the Vermont Studio Center, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, and the LEF Foundation. Her writing has been anthologized, most recently in Other Musics: New Latina Poetry, The Poetry of Capital, and The Awesome Difficult Work of Love: June Jordan’s Legacy. She teaches writing at City College of San Francisco and has poems forthcoming in Colorado Review, Cortland Review, and Chicago Quarterly Review.