The Puerto Rican Literature Project

Roque Raquel Salas Rivera (he/they) is a Puerto Rican poet and translator of trans experience born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. His honors include being named Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, the Premio Nuevas Voces, and the inaugural Ambroggio Prize. Among his six poetry books are lo terciario/ the tertiary (Noemi Press, 2019), longlisted for the National Book Award and winner of the Lambda Literary Award, and while they sleep (under the bed is another country) (Birds LLC, 2019), which inspired the title for no existe un mundo poshuracán: Puerto Rican Art in the Wake of Hurricane Maria at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Salas Rivera has edited the anthologies Puerto Rico en mi corazón (Anomalous Press, 2019) and La piel del arrecife: Antología de poesía trans puertorriqueña (La Impresora & Atarraya Cartonera, 2023). From 2016 to 2018, he was a coeditor and translator for the literary journal The Wanderer. 

The Rust of History (Circumference Press, 2022), a selection of the poetry by his grandfather Sotero Rivera Avilés, was longlisted for the Pen Award for Poetry in Translation and ALTA’s National Translation Award. Salas Rivera also translated The Book of Conjurations, by Irizelma Robles, which won the Sundial Literary Translation Award. Other translation projects include Love and Anarchy: The Writings of Luis Capetillo (Ed. Julio Ramos, Loudreaders Press, 2023), Hijas de América Latina (Ed. Sandra Guzmán, HarperCollins Español, 2023), and Deudas coloniales: el caso de Puerto Rico (Rocío Zambrana, Editora Educación Emergente, 2022). His translation of Ada Limón’s poem dedicated to NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will be traveling to Jupiter’s moon in 2024.

Salas Rivera holds a PhD in comparative literature and literary theory from the University of Pennsylvania and lives, teaches, and writes in Puerto Rico. Accompanied by his cat, Pietri, he is currently working on the trans epic poem Algarabía, which will be published in 2025 by Graywolf Press. Forthcoming translation projects include poetic works by Roberto Ncar, Angelamaría Dávila Malavé, and Julia de Burgos, among others.

As part of El proyecto de la literature puertorriqueña/ The Puerto Rican Literature Project team, he served as Supervisor of the Translation Team and Investigator from April 2021 until September 2023, when he retired from the project. During that period, he digitized poems, designed, and conducted interviews with contemporary Puerto Rican writers, proposed and designed long biographical profiles, and translated 200 poems. Salas Rivera feels that his commitment now and always will be to the poetry of his country and to the creation of a more just world, especially for Puerto Ricans of trans experience.

Roque Raquel Salas Rivera (he/they) is a Puerto Rican poet and translator of trans experience born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. His honors include being named Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, the Premio Nuevas Voces, and the inaugural Ambroggio Prize. Among his six poetry books are lo terciario/ the tertiary (Noemi Press, 2019), longlisted for the National Book Award and winner of the Lambda Literary Award, and while they sleep (under the bed is another country) (Birds LLC, 2019), which inspired the title for no existe un mundo poshuracán: Puerto Rican Art in the Wake of Hurricane Maria at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Salas Rivera has edited the anthologies Puerto Rico en mi corazón (Anomalous Press, 2019) and La piel del arrecife: Antología de poesía trans puertorriqueña (La Impresora & Atarraya Cartonera, 2023). From 2016 to 2018, he was a coeditor and translator for the literary journal The Wanderer. 

The Rust of History (Circumference Press, 2022), a selection of the poetry by his grandfather Sotero Rivera Avilés, was longlisted for the Pen Award for Poetry in Translation and ALTA’s National Translation Award. Salas Rivera also translated The Book of Conjurations, by Irizelma Robles, which won the Sundial Literary Translation Award. Other translation projects include Love and Anarchy: The Writings of Luis Capetillo (Ed. Julio Ramos, Loudreaders Press, 2023), Hijas de América Latina (Ed. Sandra Guzmán, HarperCollins Español, 2023), and Deudas coloniales: el caso de Puerto Rico (Rocío Zambrana, Editora Educación Emergente, 2022). His translation of Ada Limón’s poem dedicated to NASA’s Europa Clipper mission will be traveling to Jupiter’s moon in 2024.

Salas Rivera holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and Literary Theory from the University of Pennsylvania and lives, teaches, and writes in Puerto Rico. Accompanied by his cat, Pietri, he is currently working on the trans epic poem Algarabía, which will be published in 2025 by Graywolf Press. Forthcoming translation projects include poetic works by Roberto Ncar, Angelamaría Dávila Malavé, and Julia de Burgos, among others.

As part of  El proyecto de la literature puertorriqueña/ The Puerto Rican Literature Project team, he served as Supervisor of the Translation Team and Investigator from April 2021 until September 2023, when he retired from the project. During that period, he digitized poems, designed, and conducted interviews with contemporary Puerto Rican writers, proposed and designed long biographical profiles, and translated 200 poems. Salas Rivera feels that his commitment now and always will be to the poetry of his country and to the creation of a more just world, especially for Puerto Ricans of trans experience.