Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é Faculty
Sylvia Aguilar Zéleny
Sylvia Aguilar-Zéleny received her MA in Humanities at the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey and her MFA in Creative Writing from The Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Texas at El Paso. She is a bilingual author and has published four short-story collections: Gente Menuda (1999), No son gente como uno (2003), Nenitas (2013), Señorita Ansiedad y Otras Manías (2014), as well as the novels Una no habla de esto (2007), Todo Esto Es Yo (2015), and the memoir El Libro de Aisha (2018). She is also the author of the LGBTQ Young Adult Series titled Coming Out (2014). She has taught writing workshops for victims of violence as a volunteer, and she currently coordinates the CasaOctavia writing residency for women.
Specialty Courses:
- Fiction
- Forms and Techniques of Fiction
- Writing for the Young Adult
Contact: saguilar8@utep.edu
Nelson Cárdenas
Nelson Cárdenas has won national literary awards for his poems and essays in his native Cuba. He is the author of the long poem “El Guerrero.” His book Isla que no existe won the National Literary Award “Pinos Nuevos”, in the category of Essay in 2002. He studied literature at the Universidad de La Habana and has a PhD. in Hispanic Studies from the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Pennsylvania. He currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Literature and Creative Writing at the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Texas at El Paso.
Specialty Courses:
- The Lost Generation
- Screenwriting
- Documentary Screenwriting
Contact: ncardenas2@utep.edu
Andrea Cote-Botero
Andrea Cote-Botero is a poet and a translator. She is the author of three books: Puerto Calcinado, Cosas Frágiles and Chinatown a Toda Hora (Libro Objeto). Her work has been translated to English, French, German, and Italian. She is also the author of two nonfiction books Una Fotógrafa al Desnudo: Biografía de Tina Modotti and Blanca Varela o La Escritura de la Soledad. She studied literature at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá and has a PhD. in Hispanic Literature from the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Pennsylvania.
Specialty Courses:
- Forms and Techniques of Poetry
- Photo-Poetics
Contact: acbotero@utep.edu
Daniel Chacón
Daniel Chacón is the current chair of the M.F.A. in Creative Writing at the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Texas in El Paso. He is the author of four books including Chicano Chicanery, and the shadows took him: A Novel, Unending Rooms, the critically acclaimed Hotel Juárez: Stories, Rooms, and Loops, as well as The Cholo Tree: A Novel. He received his M.F.A. in Fiction Writing from the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Oregon. He is the co-host, with Tim Hernandez, of the KTEP-produced radio and online show on writers and writing, Words on a Wire.
Specialty Courses:
- Fiction
- Narrative Theory and Poetics
- Forms and Techniques of Fiction
- Physics for the Writer
- Kafka and Memoir
Contact: danchacon@utep.edu
Tim Z. Hernandez
Tim Z. Hernandez is a novelist, poet and performance artist. His books include three volumes of poetry and two novels. His collection of poetry, Skin Tax, received the 2006 American Book Award, and the James Duval Phelan Award from the San Francisco Foundation. His novel, Breathing, In Dust, was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, and went on to receive the 2010 Premio Aztlan Prize in fiction from the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque.
Specialty Courses:
- Fiction
- Narrative Theory and Poetics
- Gathering Stories, Turning Research into Writing
Contact: tzhernandez@utep.edu
José de Piérola
José de Piérola is a fiction writer and a translator. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Literature from the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of California at San Diego. He has published one short story collection, three novels and a translation of “The Art of Fiction” by Henry James and a translation of L’Etranger by Albert Camus. De Piérola has won literary awards in Spain and Peru, and his work has been published in France, Spain, the United States and Peru. He teaches advanced fiction writing and Latin American literature.
Specialty Courses:
- Writing the Novel
- Narrative Theory and Poetics
- Minding Fiction
Contact: jdepierola@utep.edu
Sasha Pimentel
Sasha Pimentel holds an M.F.A. from California State Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é. Born in Manila and raised in Atlanta, Saudi Arabia, and the tri-state region, Sasha Pimentel is a Filipina-
American poet and author of Insides She Swallowed (2010) and For Want of Water (2017). Her work has appeared in journals such as APR, Gulf Coast, Callaloo, and Colorado Review. She is a former Philip Levine Fellow and winner of the Ernesto Trejo Prize. She teaches poetry writing, Asian-American literature and nonfiction writing.
Specialty Courses:
- Advanced Poetry Writing
- African American Poetry
- Poetry and Performance
Contact: srpimentel@utep.edu
Jeff Sirkin
Jeff Sirkin earned his M.A. from Miami Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é and his Ph.D. in Literature from the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é at Buffalo. He writes on the intersections of music with postmodern literature and the historic avant-garde. He has presented work on Kurt Cobain, Bob Dylan, punk rock and twentieth century poetry. He writes poetry and studies twentieth-century literature and culture and is the author of Travelers Aid Society (2016). He teaches classes on twentieth century literature and culture.
Specialty Courses:
- Politics of Narration
- Avant-Garde in Literature and Music
- Graphic Novel
Contact: jsirkin@utep.edu
Lex Williford
Lex Williford holds an M.F.A. from the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Arkansas. His book, Macauley’s Thumb, was co-winner of the 1993 Iowa School of Letters Award for Short Fiction. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in the most respected literary journals of the U.S., and his stories have been widely anthologized. Williford is also the author of Superman
on the Roof (2016) and is the coeditor of the popular Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction. He also teaches in our on-campus bilingual writing program.
Specialty Courses:
- Short Story
- Screenwriting
- Creative Nonfiction
Contact: lex@utep.edu
JD Pluecker
- Advanced Poetry
- Writing in an Expanded Field
- Non-Normative Poetry and Hybrid Writing
- Literary Translation
- Translation as a Generative Strategy for Writing
Jessica Powers
JL (Jessica) Powers has published 5 books for young adults, a picture book, and a hiking guide, as well as edited two collections of essays. Powers has worked in the publishing industry since 2002, first as a publicist and marketing manager then as an editor and foreign rights director for Cinco Puntos Press. In 2017, she launched Catalyst Press, which focuses on publishing African writers and African based books for people of all ages. In 2019, Publishers Weekly named Jessica as an MVP in the industry. Powers has a Bachelors in English from New Mexico State Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é, a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Texas at El Paso, and Master’s degrees in African History from the State Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of New York at Albany and Stanford Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é. Powers serves on the boards of PubWest and the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative (GLLI) and is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters (TIL) and the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY).
Her specialty courses are:
- Writing Children's Literature
- Advanced Fiction Writing: Young Adult
Carolina Ebeid
- Advanced Poetry Workshop
- Writing with the Family Archive
Visiting Writers
Liz Scheid
Liz Scheid is the author of The Shape of Blue, which won Lit Pub’s First Annual Prose Book contest. Her essays and poems have appeared in several literary magazines, including, The Rumpus, Mississippi Review, Third Coast, The Collagist, The Journal, Sou’Wester, The Prose-Poem Project, La Petite Zine, MiPoesias, and other literary magazines. Her work has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She currently lives in an almond orchard in Kerman, California, with her husband and two kids.
Specialty Courses:
· Forms and Techniques of Poetry
Contact: scheidliz2@gmail.com
Heather Hartley
Heather Hartley is Paris Editor for Tin House magazine and is the author of Knock Knock (Carnegie Mellon Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é Press, 2010). Her poems, essays and interviews have appeared in or on PBS Newshour, The Guardian, The Rumpus, Post Road and other venues and numerous anthologies, including Food and Booze: A Tin House Literary Feast, and Satellite Convulsions.
Poems from Tin House.” She lives in Paris, where she curates Shakespeare & Company Bookshop’s weekly reading series and teaches creative writing and poetry at the American Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é of Paris.
Specialty Courses:
· Advanced Poetry