John Manuel Arias is a gay, Costa Rican and Uruguayan writer back in Washington, DC after many years. He is a Canto Mundo fellow & alumnus of the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop. His prose has found homes in Tor.com, The Kenyon Review, F(r)iction, Joyland Magazine, and at Akashic Books. His poetry has appeared in dozens of literary magazines, including The Offing, PANK, Platypus Press, and Assaracus: A Journal of Gay Poetry. He has been nominated for both the Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net three times. Before DC, he lived in Costa Rica with his grandmother and four ghosts.