James Michelin Distinguished Visitors Program

Alberto Ríos, award-winning writer and Arizona's first poet laureate, is the author of thirteen books of poetry, three collections of short stories, and a memoir. The son of a Mexican father from Tapachula, Chiapas, and an English mother from Warrington, Lancashire, Ríos was raised on the American side of the city of Nogales, Arizona, on the Mexican border. Ríos is the recipient of the Arizona Governor's Arts Award, the Walt Whitman Award, the Western States Book Award for Fiction, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. His poems have been published in 250 national and international literary anthologies. Ríos's work is regularly taught and translated, and it has been adapted to dance and both classical and popular music. He served as Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 2014 to 2020 and resides in Chandler, Arizona.

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