River Coello

Poet

Orlando, FL
Florida US

Author's Bio

River Coello is a Guayaquil-born cultural weaver based in Orlando. They are proudly Andean, kariwarmi, kuir, and disabled.

River is currently working on a new multimedia and multilingual project exploring complementary dualism through an Andean lens, titled YANANTIN, with support from South Arts. Their previous project, HAMPI, explored their early reconnection to the Andean cosmovision. The book (For the Birds Trapped in Airports, 2024-2026) received a Florida Book Award, an International Latino Book Award, an Independent Publisher Book Award, and a Nautilus Book Award. Reimagined as an immersive experience, HAMPI is currently being exhibited in Seattle at Jack Straw Cultural Center. It will be exhibited in Orlando at the LGBT+ Center thanks to United Arts of Central Florida. River's previous chapbook-length collections, faith/fe (2021) and self/ser (2019), were published by Homie House Press.

River was an Orlando Poet Laureate finalist and received an International WCS Award in media and creative influence. They have also received support from the Poetry Foundation, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Lambda Literary, the Canada Council for the Arts, among others. Their work is or will be featured in the anthologies We Still Can't Help It If We're from Florida (Burrow Press, 2027), Desde esta orilla (Digitus Indie Publishers, 2026), Emerge (Lambda Literary, 2025), eXpuestXs (El Beisman Press, 2024), and Sweeter Voices Still (Belt Publishing, 2021), as well as the University of Chicago Magazine, ICONIQA Mag/Book, and the Chicago Reader.

Publications & Prizes

Book:
HAMPI (For the Birds Trapped in Airports, 2024)
Prizes won: 

Awards & Honors

  • 2025 Poet Laureate Finalist, City of Orlando
  • 2025 Queer Leader Award (Media and Creative Influence), International WCS Awards
  • 2025 Silver Medalist (Poetry: Hybrid Works), Nautilus Book Awards
  • 2024 Silver Medalist (Spanish Language), Florida Book Awards
  • 2024 Silver Medalist (Bilingual Poetry), International Latino Book Awards
  • 2024 Gold Medalist (Specialty Poetry), Independent Publisher Book Awards

Grants & Fellowships

  • 2026-2027 Literary Arts Grant, South Arts
  • 2025-2026 Individual Artist Award, United Arts of Central Florida
  • 2025-2026 New Media Fellowship, Jack Straw Cultural Center
  • 2022 Parry/Billman Fine Arts Award, Ohio University
  • 2021 Connection Grant, Beads on One String Foundation

Creative Residencies

  • 2026 Mendocino Arts Center (Forthcoming)
  • 2026 Teatro di Grazzano Visconti (Forthcoming)
  • 2025 Jack Straw Cultural Center
  • 2024 Virginia Center for the Creative Arts
  • 2024 Lambda Literary

More Information

Identifies as: 
LGBTQ, Mixed-Race
Fluent in: 
English, Spanish
Born in: 
Guayaquil
Ecuador
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Apr 27, 2026