Erika Gallion Velasquez is a Los Angeles based writer originally from Canton, Ohio. Her essay Paradise is Ours won the Cincinnati Review 2024 Robert and Adele Schiff award for best nonfiction and was published in print in May 2025. Other published writing has appeared in Entropy, Angel City Review, HerStry, Niftylit, Apricity (nominated for Best of the Net), Always Crashing, Culturate, Pangyrus Lit, and more. For more information visit www.erikagallion.com.