Presented in partnership with Humanities Research Institute, University of Illinois Library, Urbana Arts & Culture Program, Smile Student Living, University of Illinois Press, and Polyvinyl Records.

Justine Lynell Mercado is a Chicana poet from Jurupa Valley, Ca. She is also a graduate of the University of California Riverside, where she studied anthropology and creative writing. Currently, she lives in the Midwest where she is pursuing an MFA at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. Her poetry has won the Charles and Susan Shattuck Prize and is forthcoming in journals such as Allium, Euphony, and Ninth Letter.