Joshua Escobar performs as DJ Ashtrae + Little Piñata, and is the author of the chapbooks Califorkya Voltage (No, Dear/Small Anchor) and xxox fm (Doublecross Press). His first full-length collection Bareback Nightfall is forthcoming from Noemi Press and Letras Latinas in 2020. He has received fellowships from Shandaken: Storm King and CantoMundo, and now serves as a Regional Chair for CantoMundo. He co-publishes the zines, Open Fruit and Orange Mercury. He teaches at Santa Barbara City College.

He writes about queerness, nightlife, and southern California's Inland Empire. Leila Ortiz calls his poetry "out of context and close to the heart."

Escobar was the Dean's Fellow in Writing at the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College. In addition to an M.F.A. from Bard College, Escobar holds a B.A. in English, B.A. in Urban Planning, and Master of Journalism degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

(Author photo by Diego Canseco)