Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo is the daughter of Mexican immigrants. Her debut poetry collection, Posada: Offerings of Witness and Refuge (Sundress Publications 2016), is inspired by her family’s immigration stories and her time volunteering with the humanitarian aid organization, No More Deaths. A dramatization of her poem “Our Lady of the Water Gallons,” directed by Jesús Salvador Treviño, can be viewed at latinopia.com.
Bermejo was chosen as the first “Poet in the Parks” resident at Gettysburg National Military Park in partnership with the Poetry Foundation and the National Parks Arts Foundation in Fall 2017. Locating the Dead, a chapbook inspired by her time at Gettysburg during the first half of the Trump administration was published by A-B Projects as part of the collaborative art exhibit, “The Stacks.” “Battlegrounds,” a poem from this collection was featured as an Academy of Poets’ Poem-a-Day and on Poetry Unbound.
A former Steinbeck fellow, Poets & Writers California Writers Exchange poetry winner, Barbara Deming Memorial Fund/Money for Women grantee, and Tucson Festival of Books 3rd place poetry winner, she was once selected by her mentor, Eloise Klein Healy as a Los Angeles Central Library ALOUD newer poet. She has received residencies with Hedgebrook and the Ragdale Foundation and is a member of the Miresa Collective.
Bermejo is co-founder and director of Women Who Submit, a literary organization fighting for gender parity by empowering women and non-binary writers to submit work for publication. She received a BA in Theatre Arts from California State University of Long Beach and an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles. She teaches adult writing workshops with UCLA Extension and children’s poetry workshops throughout LA County.
- MFA, Creative Writing, Antioch University Los Angeles, 2009
- BA, Theatre Arts, California State University, Long Beach, 2003
As a writing teacher, I look for readings and poems that will spark conversation in class and lead to exercises and experimentations that help students find their own voice and own strategies for writing for social change. I do not believe I have the answers. I am not a lecturer. I am a practical learner, and I conduct class much in the way I like to learn, through open discussion, collective knowledge, experimentation, and practice.
- Posada: Offerings of Witness and Refuge (Sundress Publications 2016)
- Abridged List of Journals 2016-Present:
- “Mamita, We’re Going to Go on Ahead,” Dryland Lit, poetry, 2020
- “Forget About the Rap Star and Choose Me,” [Pank], CNF, 2020
- “A While’ Means January,” Acentos Review, poetry, 2019
- “Invisible No More: How Fade Into You Reflects the L.A. Chicanx Experience,” LA Review of Books, CNF, 2019
- “One Sweet Day: A To-Do List for the First Day of Spring,” The Texas Review, poetry, 2018
- “Ghost Interview in the Peach Orchard,” Exposition Review, poetry, 2018
- “Delicious Things,” Lady/Liberty/Lit, poetry, 2017
- “A Corrido for Macondo,” co-written with Joe Jimenez, Lunch Ticket, poetry, 2017
- “The Waters de mi Nombre,” Imaniman: Poets Writing in the Anzaldúan Borderlands Anthology (Aunt Lute), CNF, 2016
- “Meditation for the Lost and Found,” crazyhorse, poetry, 2016
- Community of Writers, Squaw Valley, Macondo Scholar, 2019
- National Parks Arts Foundation, Gettysburg National M. Park, Poet in the Parks, 2017
- San Jose State University, Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies, Steinbeck Fellow, 2016
- Hedgebrook, Women Authoring Change Fellow, 2016
- Barbara Deming Fund, nonfiction grantee, 2015
- Tucson Festival of Books, Literary Awards, third place poetry winner, 2015
- Andres Montoya Poetry Prize, finalist, 2014
- Poets & Writers California Writers Exchange, poetry winner, 2013
- Los Angeles Central Library’s ALOUD, Newer Poet, 2012