Biography
Natalie Scenters-Zapico is the author of Lima :: Limón (Copper Canyon Press, 2019) and The Verging Cities (Center for Literary Publishing at Colorado State University, 2015). Her work highlights the idea of borders and Latinx writers as hybrid, blending different social and cultural identifiers to create a new mixed identity. Scenters-Zapico cites influences from poets such as Naomi Shihab Nye, Adrienne Rich, Elizabeth Bishop, Ai, and Li-Young Lee. Scenters-Zapico has received awards and fellowships from a variety of sources, including PEN America, and was a finalist for the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award (2020) and the International Griffin Poetry Prize (2020). Scenters-Zapico is professor of creative writing. Her writing often addresses violence and ideas of the border at the personal and the political levels. Scenters-Zapico was born in Ciudad Juárez, México and grew up in El Paso, Texas. For more, visit nataliescenterszapico.net and follow Natalie on Twitter @nascenters.