Carlos Cumpián

Carlos Cumpián is a poet, editor, and teacher. His book Human Cicada (Prickly Pear Publishing, 2022) marks his fifth poetry collection. Cumpián’s earlier works include Coyote Sun (MARCH/Abrazo Press, 1990), Armadillo Charm (Tia Chucha, 1996), 14 Abriles (MARCH/Abrazo Press, 2010). He is also the author of the children's book Latino Rainbow: Poems About Latino Americans (Children’s Press, 1994). With David Ranney, Cumpián co-edited Coyote’s Song: Collected Poems & Selected Art of Carlos Cortéz Koyokuikatl (MARCH/Abrazo Press, 2023).

Cumpián has also been included in more than 30 anthologies and recognized by the Illinois Library Association and Read Illinois, as well as with a Gwendolyn Brooks Significant Illinois Poet Award. In April 2025, he contributed to the Spanish-language literary consortium Poesia en Abril.

He is a member of the Texas-based Macondo Writers Workshop, and a board member of The Chicago Literary Hall of Fame. In 1982, Cumpián co-founded MARCH/Abrazo Press, the first bilingual Chicana, Indigenous, and Latino/a/x small press in Illinois.