Jimmy Santiago Baca is the author of several collections of poetry, including Singing at the Gates (Grove Press, 2014), The Esai Poems (Sherman Asher Publishing, 2011), Rita and Julia (San Diego City Works Press, 2008), and Winter Poems Along the Rio Grande (New Directions Publishing, 2004), among others. Baca has received a Pushcart Prize, and was awarded the 2006 Cornelius P. Turner Award. Baca founded the literary nonprofit Cedar Tree Poeticsin 2004, which offers writing workshops and outreach to disadvantaged communities, prisoners and ex-prisoners, and at-risk youth. Baca holds both a BA in English and an honorary PhD in literature from the University of New Mexico.