Viva Padilla is a bilingual poet, writer, and editor born and raised in South Central Los Angeles. She’s the founding editor-in-chief of Dryland, an independent print literary journal established in 2015, and Hombre Lobo, an intergenerational book series documenting paranormal/supernatural stories experienced by Xicanx. Padilla is a first-generation Chicana, a daughter of immigrants who crossed the border from Colima, Mexico.

Viva has been invited to speak at universities like Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal State Fullerton, as well as international cultural institutions like Casa de las Americas in Havana, Cuba. Viva’s work has been featured in the L.A. Times, The Acentos Review, Cultural Weekly, PANKwearemitú and others.  Her writing was recently featured in Every. Thing. Changes. an art exhibition by L.A. Forum for Architecture and Urban Design, L.A. Poets in Place by The Autry Museum, and As Of Late, a San Francisco anthology that donates proceeds to an indigenous women-led land trust. Forthcoming work includes international published writing in SAND Berlin, an art collaboration with Harry Gamboa Jr., and her first poetry collection. She currently works at Tia Chucha Press and lives on the Eastside in Los Angeles. 

Sample Speaking Topics:
-Thriving as an independent literary journal
-Literary justice and equity
-Independent publishing as activism
-Entrepreneurship
-Literary theory
-Literacy
-Community building
-Literary justice/activism
-Chicanx issues
-Creative writing and poetry