Poet, teacher, and activist Lupe Mendez is the author of the poetry collection Why I Am Like Tequila (Willow Books, forthcoming 2019). He earned an MFA in creative writing (poetry) from the University of Texas at El Paso. His poetry has appeared in Luna Luna, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, Rabbit Catastrophe Review, Revista Síncope, Pilgrimage, Border Senses, Gigantic Sequence, and Gulf Coast, among others.

Mendez is one of the founders of the Librotraficante Movement and of Tintero Projects, a Texas based grassroots organization that works to provide a platform for emerging Latinx writers and writers of color within the Gulf Coast Region and beyond. He has received fellowships from CantoMundo, Macondo, and the Crescendo Literary/Poetry Foundation's Poetry Incubator.

Mendez lives in Houston, where he has worked as an educator for the last 19 years and serves as Poets & Writers' Literary Outreach Coordinator.