Loria Mendoza (she/they) is a queer Chicanx author, writing instructor, curator, community art producer, and multidisciplinary artist rooted in Austin, Texas. Drawn to Swarthmore College’s commitment to social justice and critical inquiry, Loria graduated with an Honors Major in English Literature and an Honors Minor in Political Science.

Their passion for storytelling, equity, and the arts then carried them across the country to San Francisco, where they earned both an MA and MFA in English and Creative Writing at San Francisco State University. There, they discovered a love for community building while serving as a co-curator of the graduate program’s Poetry Center reading series, The Velvet Revolution, and as Fiction Editor for 14 Hills magazine.

Their book of stories, Life’s Too Short (Fourteen Hills Press) received the Michael Rubin Book Award and their debut poetry collection, The Body Can Tolerate, (Red Light Lit Press) released in September 2025 has received high praise from authors Miah Jeffra, Linda Ravenswood, Rob Macaisa Colgate, Preeti Vangani, Christine No, Lauren Parker, Peter Bullen, and more.

Their work has also been published in the great weather for MEDIA anthologies, Beacon Radiant and Paper Teller Diorama, The Vassar Review, Fourteen Hills, ellipsis… literature and art, Orca, A Literary Journal, Moon City Review, Anatolios Magazine, Love Is the Drug & Other Dark Poems: A Poetry Anthology by Red Light Lit, Acentos Review, Subprimal, Transfer Magazine, and more. Their writing has been performed on stages across the United States.