About the Author
Iris Gomez is an award-winning writer and nationally-recognized expert on the rights of immigrants in the United States. She is the author of two poetry collections, Housicwhissick Blue (Edwin Mellen Press, 2003) and When Comets Rained (CustomWords, 2005), which earned a prestigious national poetry prize from the University of California. Her work is widely published in a variety of literary and other periodicals. A respected public interest immigration lawyer and law school lecturer, she has represented civil rights groups and individuals in high impact cases and won professional awards for her accomplishments — including a Las Primeras award for Latina trailblazers in Massachusetts. She has frequently been called upon to write and speak on immigration-related topics and has appeared in the media, including on the nationally televised Cristina show and Boston’s celebrated bilingual late-night radio program ¡Con Salsa!
An immigrant from Cartagena, Colombia, she spent formative years in Miami, Florida and has also lived in New York City, Michigan, and throughout the Pacific Northwest. She and her family now make their home in the Boston area.