THE CHILDREN OF THE LAND

CHILDREN OF THE LAND is the stunning story of Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, the first undocumented student to graduate from the University of Michigan's MFA program, and his struggle to find his place in the United States even after gaining legal documentation.

Shortly after Marcelo's own visa was finally approved, his mother's last attempt at obtaining one failed, and after decades in America, she returned to Mexico, where she rejoinedMarcelo's father. However within a few months of her return, cartel members dressed as police officers gained entrance into Marcelo's parents' home and kidnapped his father. After negotiations involving several government agencies,Marceloand his siblings were able to ransom their father and obtain provisional amnesty to allow both their parents return to the United States. This complex and emotional series of events gave further emphasis to the ambivalence Marcelo has felt towards identity, both national and personal, his whole life.

Marcelo's writing is so exceptionally lyrical that it will come as no surprise that he is also a renowned poet. His first collection, CENZONTLE, was the winner of the A. Poulin, Jr. Prize and was published by BOA Editions in Spring 2018 to high acclaim. Additionally, Marcelo is a founding member of the group UndocuPoets, which has successfully lobbied for the removal of a citizenship requirement from all major first book poetry prizes, as well as many major grants. It is impossible to overstate how crucial it is to amplify the voices of writers like Marcelo, whose experiences are shockingly common yet completely underrepresented. Marcelo is that rare talent who can deftly wrest from his life the beautiful, the unexpected, the horrifying, and find that it adds up to so much more.

Marcelo Hernandez Castillo Marcelo Hernandez Castillo was born in Zacatecas, Mexico and moved to the United States when he was five. He received a BA from Sacramento State University and was the first undocumented student to earn an MFA from the University of Michigan. Castillo's poems and essays can be found in BuzzFeed, Drunken Boat, Gulf Coast, Indiana Review, Jubilat, Muzzle Mag, New England Review, The Paris American, and Southern Humanities Review among others. Along with C.D. Wright, Castillo has translated the poems of Mexican poet Marcelo Uribe. A Pushcart nominee, Castillo has received fellowships from CantoMundo, the Squaw Valley Writer's Workshop, and the Vermont Studio Center.