Richard Vargas was born in Compton, California. He earned his B.A. at Cal State University, Long Beach, where he studied under Gerald Locklin, and his MFA MFA from the University of New Mexico in 2010. He edited/published five issues of The Tequila Review, 1978-1980, publishing early works by Jimmy Santiago Baca, Alberto Rios, Nila Northsun, and many more. His first book, McLife, was featured twice on Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac in 2006. A second book, American Jesus, was published by Tia Chucha Press in 2007. His third book, Guernica, revisited, was published in 2014, by Press 53, and was also featured on the Writer's Almanac. He was the recipient of the 2011 Taos Summer Writers’ Conference’s Hispanic Writer Award, was on the faculty of the 2012 10th National Latino Writers Conference and facilitated a workshop at the 2015 Taos Summer Writers’ Conference. Vargas also edited/published The Más Tequila Review from 2009-2015, featuring poets from across the country. He has read his poetry to audiences in Los Angeles, Chicago, St. Louis, Madison, Albuquerque/Santa Fe, Indianapolis, and Boulder. His fourth book will be published this summer by MouthFeel Press. Currently, he resides in Monona, Wisconsin.