Lydia Cortés is Williamsburg born Puerto Rican and the author of two collections of poetry: Lust for Lust and Whose Place. Her work appears in The Anthology of Puerto Rican Poetry: From Aboriginal to Contemporary Times; Breaking Ground, Anthology of Puerto Rican Women Writers in New York 1980-2012; Monologues From the Road (a play); Through the Kitchen Window; Teaching With Fire; In Praise of Our Teachers; and in Phati’tude Literary Magazine’s What’s Latin A Nombre? issue. Both her stories and poems have been published in online zines such as Press1. A story has been recently published in Shale, a collection of fiction. She was awarded fellowships at The Valparaiso Artists Retreat in Spain; Virginia Center for The Creative Arts; and at The MacDowell Colony. Lydia Cortés has also been published by Jessica Tannebaum, curator for the Journal of Upstreet, in two of their issues. Michael Broder of Indolent Press has published various poems in his online poetry venue, Rough Beast. Black Earth Institute, curated by Patricia Spears Jones in their series, 30 Days Hath September, selected a poem by Cortés. She’s also been published in the recent anthology, Resist Much Obey Little.