Biography

Juan J. Morales was born in the U.S. to an Ecuadorian mother and a Puerto Rican father. He grew up hearing family stories that inspired much of the poems in Friday and the Year that Followed, his first collection of poetry, which was chosen by Vern Rutsala for the 2005 Rhea and Seymour Gorsline Poetry Competition and published by Bedbug Press.  Juan received his MFA from the University of New Mexico in 2005.  His poetry has also appeared in Blue Mesa Review, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, Poet Lore, and War, Literature, & the Arts.  He is the Head of Creative Writing as an Assistant Professor at Colorado State University-Pueblo.