Cristina J BaptistaCristina J. Baptista is a first-generation Portuguese-American writer and educator whose work has appeared in New Millennium Writings, Adanna, DASH, The Cortland Review, Structo, Right Hand Pointing, and elsewhere. Her poem "Trouble Woman" was nominaed by Structo in the 2016 Forward Prizes for Poetry. In 2012, a collection of her poetry won an Academy of American Poets Prize; in 2008, she won The Baltimore Review's Poetry Prize. She is also a 38th Voyager-one of 85 people in the world selected to travel on the 38th Voyage of the Charles W. Morgan, an 1841 wooden whaleship that is the last remaining one in the world. In collaboration with Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Sea, Cristina wrote Taking Her Back: Portuguese Presence & the 38th Voyage of the Charles W. Morgan, a collection of poetry written while serving as one of the Voyagers. The collection documents the Portuguese immigrant experience aboard whaleships from the past through the present. Additionally, Cristina holds a Ph.D. in English from Fordham University in New York City. A scholar of Modern American Literature, she has presented her research on the Portuguese-American experience and Lusophonic presence in American literary works. Currently, Cristina teaches at a private school in Connecticut, where she also mentors an award-winning student-run literature and arts magazine and helps coordinate an annual Writers Festival for local high school students. Read More Read Less