Manuel A. Melendez is a hybrid writer born and partially raised in Camagüey, Cuba. He received his MFA in Poetry from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He has been published in Apricity Magazine, The Bicoastal Review, Midway Journal, Superstition Review and others. He has received several awards for his writing (across multiple genres), including The 3rd and 4th Annual Derick Burleson Poetry Contest Awards, the E. L. Bartlett Contest for Literary Criticism Award, and The Farthest North Fiction Contest Short Story or Single Chapter Award. He dreams of one day living in a world where poetry can take permanent physical shape, but he settles for a fierce latte, vibrant verses, and being penniless but ravishing on his deathbed. He can be found on Instagram at @marvelzednelem and on his website, manalemel.squarespace.com.