The son of a Mexican father from Tapachula, Chiapas, and an English mother from Warrington, Lancashire, Alberto Alvaro Ríos was born in 1952 and grew up on the American side of the city of Nogales, Arizona, on the Mexican border. In the 1970s he received BA and MFA degrees from the University of Arizona. He is the author of ten books and chapbooks of poetry, three collections of short stories, and a memoir about growing up on the Mexican border. His work has been included in more than 300 national and international literary anthologies, including the Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry. Since 1994 he has been Regents’ Professor of English at Arizona State University, where he has taught since 1982. He lives in Chandler, Arizona.