​Letisia Cruz is a Cuban American writer and artist based in St. Petersburg, Florida. Her work often draws on themes of displacement, ritual, and the natural world, examining how the body carries stories across borders—what is lost in the process, what is transformed, and what endures.​ She is the author of Bigwig's Illustrated Guide to Birds (Tolsun Books, 2024), Migrations & Other Exiles (winner of the 2022 Idaho Prize for Poetry, Lost Horse Press, 2023), and The Lost Girls Book of Divination (Tolsun Books, 2018). She is the recipient of a 2022 artist grant from the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance and was selected as a 2022 Dali Dozen Emerging Artist for her project Rituales: An Exploration of Faith in the Caribbean, which explores the rituals that shape belonging. Her writing and artwork have appeared in Poetry Daily, A Dozen Nothing, Ninth Letter, The Acentos Review, [PANK], Gulf Stream, Saw Palm, Third Coast, and Duende, among others. She is a graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University’s MFA program.

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Publications

Books

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• “Bigwig’s Guide To Birds,” Tolsun Books, 2024

• “Migrations & Other Exiles,” Lost Horse Press, 2023

• “The Lost Girls Book of Divination,” Tolsun Books, 2018

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Anthologized Poetry and Nonfiction

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• “Nothing of Beauty,” Chameleon Chimera: An Anthology of Florida Poets, Purple Ink Press, 2025

• “Here and Now,” The Book of Life After Death: Essays & Poems, Tolsun Books, 2023

• “The First Tatoo,” No, You Tell It! 10-Year Anthology, Palm Circle Press, 2023

• “At Enriqueta's Café,” Waterproof: Evidence of a Miami Worth Remembering, O, Miami, 2021

• “The Awakening: Your Physical Path in the Body: Pentacles,” Listen Here, Jackalope: A Tolsun Books Anthology, Tolsun Books, 2019

• “Ghosts,” Gateways, Serving House Books, 2018

• “With Any Luck,” From Pantyhose to Spandex: Writers on the Job Redux, Serving House Books, 2017

• “Miami, Florida,” Reaching Beyond the Saguaros: A Collaborative Prosimetric Travelogue, Serving House Books, 2017

• “Key West Postcard,” There is This Place I Know, Serving House Books, 2015

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Selected Poems

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• Selected poems. A Dozen Nothing

• “Tired of Swimming” and “Summer.” Saw Palm

• “Holes.” Third Coast

• “Market Meditation.” 300 Days of Sun

• “Tidal Home,” “Sea Level” and “Last Night I Dreamt That I Jumped.” Digging Through The Fat

• “Hunger.” Sakura Review Issue IX

• “Chiquita.” The Acentos Review

• “Chronology of Drowning.” Sourland Mountain Review, Volume 1.1

• “Promise.” Ninth Letter

• “Animal Sacrifice” and “Baby.” The Acentos Review

• “Dominoes,”and “The Best Singer in Camajuani.” Moko Caribbean Arts & Letters. Issue 5

• “Wet.” Body Literature

• “Paint and Moisturizer.” Eclectic Flash

• “On the Fire Escape.” The Scrambler. Issue 45

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Art

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• Cover art, Emily’s Advice to Girls in the New Millennium by Rosemarie Dombrowski 

• “Vive La Resistance,” Cover art, Black Fox Literary Magazine Issue No. 19

• “Sol Bueno y Mar” and “Diluvio.” Duende

• “Callejera” and “Chonga Nation.” [PANK]

• “Migration Anxiety.” Syracuse Cultural Workers 2019 Datebook

• “Dime Con Quien Andas.” The Acentos Review

• “The Dove.” Ink Brick

• “Taker of Seeds.” The Crawl Space Journal

• “Shade of Winter” and “Spellbound.” The Sourland Mountain Review

• “The Ichthyologist.” Ink Brick

• “Memory of Water.” Gulf Stream Literary Magazine

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Exhibitions & Features

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• Rise, St. Pete Clearwater International Airport (PIE), Sightline Gallery, February 19 - June 15, 2026

• A Dozen Nothing, February 2026

• Poetry at the Dali, 2024

• Typewriter Talks With Keep St. Pete Lit Episode 2, 2023

• Writer's Atelier Poet Spotlight, Hunger is Perpetual, 2023

• Creative Pinellas, Migrations & Other Exiles, 2023

• St. Petersburg Art Walk, Guest artist at various locations, 2022-2023

• Dali Dozen Emerging Artist, Rituales: An Exploration of Faith in the Caribbean, 2022

• Five Deuces Galleria Dreams Group Show, 2022

• Digging Through The Fat - Artist Spotlight, 2019

• The Writing Disorder - Artist Spotlight, 2016

• Time: Present, Past, and Future, Women’s Caucus for Art, 2015

• Square Show, Bear and Bird Gallery, 2015

• Evil vs. Good, Bear and Bird Gallery, 2015

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