Juana Moriel-Payne was born in Ciudad Juárez, in the beautiful state of Chihuahua, México. She is a historian, novelist, poet, and photographer. She has published two novels in Spanish that received literary prizes in Mexico and in The United States, Trigueña (2013) and La caza del venado (2016). She is a professor at Mount Saint Mary´s University-Los Angeles, teaching Latin America, Latinx, AfroLatinx, and Bordex creative studies. Currently, she is writing a memoir titled “I too am a Border Woman.” Her research focuses on cultural history in Northern New Spain. Her book, Drama Under the Skin: Baroque Catholicism in Northern New Spain, will be published by Texas Tech University Press by Summer 2024.