Lilliam Rivera grew up in the Bronx, New York. An entertainment journalist, she’s worked for E! Online, Angeleno, Latina, and was the editorial director for the lifestyle site Mondette.com. She’s a PEN Center USA 2013 Emerging Voices Fellow and is currently writing her first contemporary young adult novel, My Shelf Life, a coming-of-age story set in the Bronx. Lilliam lives in Los Angeles and can be found online at http://www.lilliamrivera.com.

In August of 2013, I was an Artist in Residence at AROHO (www.aroomofherownfoundation.org), a women writer’s retreat. There I documented the talented writers as they read their work aloud.