Esteban Rodríguez

twitter: @estebanjrod11

Esteban Rodríguez is the author of the poetry collections Dusk & Dust, Crash Course, In Bloom, (Dis)placement, and The Valley. His poems have appeared in Boulevard, Shenandoah, The Rumpus, TriQuarterly, and elsewhere. He is the Interviews Editor for the EcoTheo Review, an Assistant Poetry Editor for AGNI, and a regular reviews contributor for [PANK] and Heavy Feather Review. 

His writing seeks to document his experiences growing up in the Rio Grande Valley along the Texas/Mexican border. Through lyric and narrative poems alike, the speaker in his work attempts to navigate the cultural traditions and expectations that shape his understanding of family, identity, and the complexities of the world at large.  

When not reading, watching British crime dramas with his wife, or convincing himself to not drink another cup of coffee, he is either walking his dogs or running on a trail in Austin. 

Some of his favorite authors include Jay Wright, Cormac McCarthy, Gloria Anzaldúa, Brigit Pegeen Kelly, B.H. Fairchild, Roberto Bolaño, Octavio Paz, Louise Glück, Lucille Clifton, Derek Walcott, Sharon Olds, and the ever-reclusive Thomas Pynchon, to name a few. 

Like many writers, he is reading way more books than he as time for, and currently his list includes Oblivion Banjo by Charles Wright, Rift Zone by Tess Taylor, A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, To Live by Yu Hua, June-tree: New and Selected Poems, 1974-2000 by Peter Balakian, and If Mother Braids a Waterfall by Dayna Patterson. 

You can find him on Twitter at @estebanjrod11. All of his books are available at bookshop.org.