Sarah A. Chavez

Sarah A. Chavez (she/they), a mestiza born and raised in the California Central Valley, is the author of the poetry chapbooks Halfbreed Helene Navigates the Whole (Ravenna Press Triple Series No. 21, 2023), like everything else we loved (Porkbelly Press, 2022), Hands That Break and Scar (Sundress Publications, 2017), and All Day, Talking (dancing girl press, 2014). Her project In the Face of Mourning: Grief/grieving and Shifts in Cultura (letters y lyrics) was awarded a 2023 Scholarship & Research grant from UW Tacoma’s School for Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, and she has held residencies at Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow, and the Macondo Writers Workshop.

Chavez earned a PhD in English with a focus in poetry and ethnic studies from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Her work, which often foregrounds mestizaje and Chicanidad themes and issues as well as intersectional performances of ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic class, and grief/mourning, has been published in North American Review, The Museum of Americana: A Literary Review, Thimble Literary Magazine, Painted Bride Quarterly, and Cider Press Review, among other journals and anthologies.

Chavez is an assistant teaching professor at the University of Washington Tacoma, where she teaches creative writing and Latino studies and serves as the co-coordinator for the annual UWT Poetry Festival.