Yesenia Montilla is a poet, translator, and educator whose work has appeared widely in publications and anthologies, including Poetry, The Best American Poetry, and the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series. She has received numerous honors, including a Café Royal Cultural Foundation grant and a New York Foundation for the Arts award. Her first collection, The Pink Box, was longlisted for a PEN Open Book Award. Her second collection, Muse Found in a Colonized Body, was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. She currently teaches poetry at The Juilliard School and lives in Harlem, New York.

(Photo credit: Ana Leiva)