Brenda Cárdenas is the 2010-2012 Poet Laureate of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her collection of poetry Boomerang was published by Bilingual Review Press in 2009, and her chapbook From the Tongues of Brick and Stone by Momotombo Press (Institute for Latino/a Studies) in 2005. She also co-edited Between the Heart and the Land: Latina Poets in the Midwest (MARCH/Abrazo Press, 2001). Cardenas’ work has appeared in a range of publications, including Achiote Seeds, The City Visible: Chicago Poetry for the New Century, The Wind Shifts: The New Latino Poetry, Prairie Schooner, RATTLE, and the Poetry Daily web site, among others. Her poem “Song” was made into an animated film in the Poetry Everywhere series sponsored by the Poetry Foundation, and her honors include two Illinois Arts Council finalist awards. Cardenas is an Assistant Professor in the Creative Writing program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
