Born in Peru to a Syrian mother and Peruvian father, Farid Matuk immigrated to California at the age of six and was undocumented until the age of thirteen. He is the author of This Isa Nice Neighborhood and the chapbooks My Daughter La Chola and from Don't Call It Reginald Denny. The recipient of an Alumni New Works grant from the Headlands Center for the Arts, Matuk is an assistant professor of English at the University of Arizona.