Simone Zapata is a queer poet, editor, and educator from San José, CA. Her work can be found or is forthcoming in Beloit Poetry Journal, Inverted Syntax, Foglifter, and elsewhere. She served as the inaugural Emerging Writer Fellow for Brink Literary Journal and was selected by Marie Howe as a finalist for the 2023 Adrienne Rich Award. She’s received scholarships from California Institute of the Arts, Community of Writers, Banff Centre, and Martha’s Vineyard. She holds an MFA from CalArts.