ABSTRACT
Erika L. Sanchez describes herself foremost as "a poet, feminist, and cheerleader for young women everywhere." As a daughter of undocumented Mexicans from the state of Durango, Sanchez explained that she possesses the determination to defy borders of any kind in her life and art. Sanchez added that she also dreamed of writing complex, empowering narratives about girls of color and especially stories that she yearned to read then as a young adult. Sanchez earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago and Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from the University of New Mexico. A recipient of a CantoMundo Fellowship, Discovery/Boston Review Poetry Prize, Fulbright Scholarship to Madrid, Spain, and Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation, Sanchez is a prolific writer across genres that include journalism.
