César L. de León is the author of speaking with grackles by soapberry trees (FlowerSong 2021). Winner of the Texas Institute of letters John A. Robertson award for the best first book of poetry (2021) and the Philosophical Society of Texas Best Book of Poetry award (2022).  He is an educator and one of four poet-organizers for Poets Against Walls, a grass-roots collective of poets and educators dedicated to centering and elevating Borderland narratives and work by writers, artists, and activists affected by borders and divisions of all kinds.  His work has appeared in Queen Mob’s Tea House, Pilgrimage, The Acentos Review, Yellow Chair Review, La Bloga, Zocalo Public Square, and the anthologies Asina is How We Talk, Pulse/Pulso: In Remembrance of Orlando, Imaniman: Poets Writing in the Anzaldúan Borderlands, The Border Crossed Us: An Anthology to End Apartheid, and Texas Weather Anthology among others.