I love books. I make books. I work with text: write (poetry and nonfiction), translate (from Spanish), ghostwrite (fiction and nonfiction), edit (developmental, naturalization, line-edits, and copyedits), and read (cultural research / sensitivity reads, manuscript line-edits, one-on-one book development). I design (typography and layout, specializing in poetry and literature). I letterpress print. I make paper. I bind books by hand in traditional and experimental / sculptural forms.

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Erica Mena is a Puerto Rican poet, translator, and book artist. They hold an MFA in poetry from Brown University, an MFA in literary translation from the University of Iowa, and an M.Phil in Criticism and Culture from the University of Cambridge. Their book Featherbone (Ricochet Editions, 2015) won a 2016 Hoffer First Horizons Award. Their translation of the Argentine graphic novel The Eternaut by H.G. Oesterheld and F. Solano Lopez (Fantagraphics, 2015) won a 2016 Eisner Award. Their artist books are collected widely. Most recently they created the artist books Puerto Rico en mi corazón, a collection of letterpress printed broadsides by Puerto Rican poets in response to Hurricane Maria, printed in Spanish and English; and Gringo Death Coloring Book by Raquel Salas Rivera with collaborator Mariana Ramos Ortiz.  They have taught Book Arts, Translation, and Poetry at Brown University, Mills College, Harvard University, and elsewhere. They currently live in Fiskars, Finland. Learn more.

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Erica takes projects as a freelance letterpress printer, book designer, translator (Spanish to English), and editor, as well as teaching workshops and offering individual instruction. Email for more information.

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