Johanny Vázquez Paz was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She earned a BA from Indian State University and an MA in Hispanic studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her collections of poetry include Streetwise Poems / Poemas callejeros (2007), which was nominated for a PEN Beyond Margins award and a Pushcart Prize and received an honorable mention in the competition for the Mariposa Award for the Best First Book. Her work has been anthologized in collections such as Poetas sin tregua (2006), Más allá de las fronteras (2004), and Carpetas de luz (2000). She coedited the anthology Between the Heart and the Land / Entre el corazón y la tierra: Latina Poets in the Midwest (2001). She lives in Chicago, where she hosts the Palabra Pura reading series and teaches at Harold Washington College.