Cynthia Cruz

Cynthia Cruz was born on a United States Air Force Base in Germany and grew up in Northern California. She received a BA from Mills College and an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College.

Cruz is the author of eight poetry collections, including Back to the Woods (Four Way Books, 2024); Hotel Oblivion (Four Way Books, 2022); How the End Begins (Four Way Books, 2016); Wunderkammer (Four Way Books, 2014); The Glimmering Room (Four Way Books, 2012); and Ruin (Alice James Books, 2006). She is also the author of two works of nonfiction: The Melancholia of Class: A Manifesto for the Working Class (Watkins Media, 2021), a sociopolitical study, and the essay collection, Disquieting: Essays on Silence (Book*hug, 2019).

Regarding Cruz’s work, Brenda Shaughnessy writes, “Cruz exposes that glorious hell that is having a history, having a body, remembering everything and trying to make something good of it.”

The recipient of a Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, Cruz is currently pursuing a PhD at the European Graduate School. She teaches in the MFA writing program at Sarah Lawrence College and lives in Brooklyn, New York.