Maya Islas

Poet and educator Maya Islas was born in Cabaiguán, Las Villas, on the island of Cuba. At the age of 17, she left Cuba, and has been living in the United States for the past several decades. Her collections of poetry include Altazora Dos, Quemando Luces, Merla, and Altazora acompañando a Vicente. A two-time finalist for the Letras de Oro, she has been awarded a CINTAS Fellowship in Literature and a Latino Literature Prize from the Latin American Writers Institute, among other honors.

For more than two decades, Islas worked as an educational counselor at The New School. She has taught Spanish at Baruch College and the University of Houston. She was the cofounder and coeditor of the literary magazine Palabras y papel. She lives in Texas.