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=Jaquira Díaz= Jaquira Díaz is a writer and contributor to many notable periodicals. Her work has appeared in Ploughshares, The Kenyon Review, The Sun, The Southern Review, Five Chapters and other places. As of 2016 she lived and worked in Miami, Florida.

Early Life
Jaquira Díaz was born in Puerto Rico. Growing up, her family lived in a bad neighborhood, colloquially referred to as a caserío. The neighborhood was made up of government housing, and had something of a dangerous reputation. Diaz, in an interview she gave with Origins, tells stories of being menaced by a machete-armed man, and of raids by the local Police force, referred to as los camarones. When she was older, her family moved to the Miami Beach area. Growing up in a new country, her life was difficult, and was marked by drug use, attempts at suicide, and encounters with the law. Diaz contributes some of her identity issues to being what she describes as "a closeted queer girl" in a neighborhood where homosexuals where harassed or even attacked. Another issue was the family's financial situation. Her Father, who had studied at the University of Puerto Rico and whom she describes as a lover of poetry and literature, became a drug dealer in order to support the family. Fortunately, literature provided a cathartic influence. Her first experience publishing came courtesy of a Language Arts teacher, Mr. Douglas Williamson, at Nautilus Middle School. While she was in his Language Arts class, he assigned the students to write an essay about how their family had dealt with Hurricane Andrew. Unbeknownst to Diaz, Williamson submitted her essay to a writing competition, and it was published in the Miami Herald. As she grew older, writing continued to be an important outlet, and her writing developed a semi-autobiographical character, often dealing with suicide, drug use, and identity. Her prose has been described as "lyrical" and "urgent" and is often focused on the intensely personal tragedies and triumphs of young women maturing in a dangerous world.

Notable Literature

 * Ordinary Girl (Appeared in Best American Essays 2016)
 * Section 8
 * "Girl Hood: On (Not) Finding Yourself in Books"
 * My Mother and Mercy (Notable Essay in The Best American Essays 2015)
 * Ghosts (Recieved Special Mention in Pushcart Prize XL: Best of the Small Presses)
 * "La Desaparecida"
 * "Reflections, While Sitting in Traffic"
 * "Season of Risks"