Kathleen Alcalá is the author of six books with work in over thirty anthologies. Recipient of the Western States Book Award, two Washington State Book Awards, and two Artist Trust fellowships, she co-edited Weeping Women: La Llorona’s Presence in Modern Latinx and Chicanx Lore (Trinity University Press).

Mark Esperanza as an Edcouch-Elsa, Texas writer and poet and currently teaches high school in the south Texas region of Rio Grande Valley. In “La Llorona de Mile 17,” Esperanza borrows from the mythology surrounding the figure of La Llorona to create a regional retelling of the sorrowful legend.

Tamara L. Mitchell is assistant professor of Hispanic studies at the University of British Columbia. Her research examines the relationship among aesthetics, politics, and the literary tradition, with a focus on contemporary Mexican and Central American narrative fiction.

Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo is a published poet based in the SF Bay Area of California. She served as 2021 Creative Ambassador of the San José Office of Cultural Affairs, holds a BFA in art and a BA in French from SJSU, is a board member of Poetry Center San José, and is editor of La Raíz magazine.

Nicolas Toledo Shump lives and teaches in Kansas City, Missouri. Nic has a BA in comp lit, an MA in American studies, and an MFA in creative nonfiction. He formerly wrote an opinion column for the Topeka Capital-Journal for 15 years. He is a second-generation Mexican American. This is his first work on La Llorona.