Jennifer Maritza McCauley is a writer, poet and university professor. The author of the cross-genre collection SCAR ON/SCAR OFF, the short story collection WHEN TRYING TO RETURN HOME and the poetry collection KINDS OF GRACE, her work has been a New York Times Editors' Choice, Best Fiction Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews, Most Anticipated Book to Read in 2023 by Today and long listed for the Aspen Words Prize. She has been granted fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Kimbilio and CantoMundo and is faculty at the University of Houston-Clear Lake and the Yale Writers' Workshop.