Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, Rio Cortez is the New York Times bestselling author of The ABCs of Black History (Workman, 2020) and I Have Learned to Define a Field As a Space Between Mountains, winner of the 2015 Toi Dericotte and Cornelius Eady Chapbook Prize. Her honors include a Poets & Writers Amy Award, as well as fellowships from Cave Canem, Canto Mundo, The Jerome Foundation, and Poet’s House. Rio holds an MFA in Creative Writing from New York University.

WELL-ESTABLISHED AUTHOR: Last winter, Cortez released her New York Times bestseller The ABCs of Black History, an abecedary that covers significant moments and significant people in Black history and culture. Cortez also has a strong network in the poetry world with contacts at Poetry House, The Slowdown (hosted by Tracy K. Smith), Ben Purkert at Guernica, and [...]. Cortez counts Morgan Parker, Ada Limón, and forthcoming PRH poet Paul Tran among her fans. Cortez is also on the marketing team at HarperCollins, where she works directly with booksellers.

RELEVANT SOCIAL AND HISTORICAL THEMES: Cortez's work unsettles established narratives about the West and about race and life in contemporary America by depicting the hidden history of the Black West, and pushing the boundaries of Afrofrontier more broadly. Hers is an energetic and exciting new voice that supplements and challenges American history as it has been told.

EXPLORES NEW POETIC TERRITORY: This collection is anchored by the radical concepts of "Afropioneerism" and "Afrofrontierism": terms coined by Cortez to describe the inner lives and outer worlds of inhabited by herself, her ancestors, and Black Americans more broadly who seek to transgress the boundaries and limitations placed upon them.

HIGHLY SOUGHT-AFTER: Viking Penguin prevailed over several other bidders to win Golden Ax-one of the most competitive poetry auctions in recent memory.

PENGUIN TO PUBLISH CORTEZ'S NONFICTION: A blend of research and memoir about her family's fascinating history-a deep dive into the "Afrofrontier" explored in Golden Ax-is currently in the works, and is sure to boost and illuminate this collection the way that Priestdaddy has for Patricia Lockwood's poetry.