About Me

Priscilla Celina “Lina” Suárez is a pocha Tejana writer and poet straight outta the Rio Grande Valley, where she was born and raised on the borderlands of South Texas. Back when Las Milpas, TX was still a colonia, she grew up listening to her wela’s cuentos – tales packed with history, folklore, and the tunes of her cultura. Those stories shaped her spirit and voice, now shared in her debut collection, La La Landia: A Journey Through My Frontera CD Shuffle, which hit the shelves in April 2022, released by FlowerSong Press. This book danced its way to the finals for the Helen C. Smith Memorial Award for Best Book of Poetry.

Lina’s poetry is a bilingual mezcla of rancheras, polkas, rock, and música internacional, blending old-school Tejano soul with the raw grit of her border upbringing. She’s also a Mexicasa Writing Fellow and a former McAllen Poet Laureate, holding down the title from 2015 to 2017. As a past contributor to the ALA’s Young Adult Library Services magazine and author of the Texas State Library’s Bilingual Programs Chapter, Lina has put her knack for words to work writing everything from tongue-twisters to rhymes for kids and teens.

Her roots run deep in community activism, too. Lina is a founding force behind the Gloria Anzaldúa Legacy Project (GAL), celebrating the life and work of Anzaldúa, one of the borderland’s most influential voices. She’s also been an organizer with Café Revolución, helping put together events such as Mujerfest, Voices Against Violence, Homenaje a Nuestras Muertas, and Writing to Heal, uplifting the community through art and literature.

Lina’s work has been featured in dozens of anthologies like Asina is How We Talk, Bad Hombres and Nasty Women, and Juventud!: Growing Up in the Border, speaking truth about the borderland life, the love of familia, and the fight for justice. Now, she volunteers as a typesetter and advisory editor, still bringing her energy to spaces that honor her frontera roots and connect her community through the power of palabra.

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