Emily Pérez

Emily Pérez is the author of the chapbook Backyard Migration Route (Finishing Line Press). Raised in south Texas, she earned a BA from Stanford and an MFA at the University of Houston, where she served as a poetry editor for Gulf Coast and taught with Writers in the Schools. An alumna of Bread Loaf, the Summer Literary Seminars, and the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley, her poems have appeared in journals including Crab Orchard Review, Borderlands, The Laurel Review, DIAGRAM, /nor, and Nimrod. She teaches English and Gender Studies in Seattle where she lives with her husband and sons.

Emily received a 2012 GAP to help cover the costs of weekend childcare and contest fees, which will enable her to dedicate her time to polishing her work and promoting her manuscript through contest submissions. In her weekend hours, she would be able to sharpen her manuscript, Finding a Home for House of Sugar, House of Stone, an examination of the abandoned children and selfish adults in the story of Hansel and Gretel; a study of absence in her own family;  and an exploration of romance, marriage, and the experience of becoming a new parent.