Raquel Salas Rivera

Raquel Salas Rivera is a Puertorican poet, translator and literary critic. They are the author of several books including Caneca de anhelos turbios, intermitente/ intermittent land and while they sleep (under the bed is another country). Their work has appeared in journals such as the Revista del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, Apogee, BOAAT, Círculo de Poesía, Cosmonauts Ave, Waxwing, Dreginald, and the Boston Review. Rivera served as the 2018-2019 Poet Laureate of Philadelphia. Lo Terciario/The Tertiary (Noemi Press) is a collection of poems by Raquel Salas Rivera written in response to Puerto Rico’s Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Bill. Rivera asks us to reflect on the Puerto Rican debt crisis, urging us to remember the violence and colonialism that plagued the country for decades. It considers the debt crisis from a queer perspective, as Rivera explores what it means to be queer or transgender in this ravaged country.