Norma Liliana Valdez is a member of the Macondo Writers Workshop and a CantoMundo fellow. Her work appears in The Rumpus, The Los Angeles Review, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, and the anthology Latinas: Struggles & Protests in 21st Century USA, among others. Norma earned a BA in Psychology, an MS in Counseling, and a graduate certificate in Ethnic Studies from San Francisco State University. She is an alumna of the UC Berkeley Extension Writing Program and has been awarded residencies and fellowships from Hedgebrook, Under the Volcano International, Community of Writers, and VONA, in addition to others. She is a founding member of the Xingona Collective, a women’s writing group whose mission is to nurture a sustaining writing practice for its members through mutual encouragement and writing retreats. She lives in the Bay Area.