Victor Manuel Mendiola was born in Mexico City in 1954, and is the author of a number of poetry collections, including Vuelo 294 (1997), Las 12:00 en Malinalco (1998), and Papel Revolucion (2000). A career-spanning retrospective volume, Tan oro y ogro (1987-2002) - effectively a collected poems - was published by the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico in 2002, and won New York's Latino Literature Prize. He has also published two books of critical essays on Hispano-American poetry: Sin Cera (2001), and Breves Ensayos Largos (2001), as well as being the editor of the anthologies Antologia Poesia Mexicana, Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos (1996), Poesia en Segundos (2000) and Sol de Mi Antojo, Antologia Poetica de Erotisismo Gay (2001). He was a writer in residence at Banff and has received awards from Mexico's Sistema Nacional de Creadores. He was the President of Mexico's PEN Club from 1997 to 2000. Mendiola is the publisher and editor of Ediciones El Tucan de Virginia, a poetry small-press in Mexico City which he founded in 1980, and which has publishewd over 200 volumes. His literary criticism has appeared in Mexico's principal newspapers and magazines. He has also directed a number of international literary festivals in Mexico.