Rita Maria Martinez is a Writing Consultant for Nova Southeastern University, where she teaches composition workshops for nursing students and tutors undergraduate and graduate students. Martinez is also an independent reading and writing tutor. Her poetry appears in various literary journals and magazines, including Gulf Stream Magazine and Tigertail: A South Florida Poetry Annual. Her work also appears in the eighth edition of Stephen Minot's textbook Three Genres: The Writing of Fiction/Literary Nonfiction, Poetry and Drama (Prentice Hall); and in the anthology Burnt Sugar, Caña Quemada: Contemporary Cuban Poetry in English and Spanish (Simon & Schuster). Martinez has been a featured author at the Miami Book Fair International; at the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach, Florida; and at the Palabra Pura reading series sponsored by the Guild Literary Complex in Chicago. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Florida International University. Visit Martinez's website at www.comeonhome.org/ritamartinez.