Alfredo Aguilar is the author of the poetry collection On This Side of the Desert (Kent State University Press 2020). He was awarded the Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize in 2019 by Natalie Diaz for the collection. He received his M.F.A. from the Michener Center for Writers and his work has appeared in The Yale Review, Waxwing, Poetry Northwest, and elsewhere. Born and raised in north county San Diego, he now resides in central Texas. He is currently at work on a new collection of poems.
At MacDowell in 2019, Aguilar finished an initial draft of his first book of poems and has submitted it for publication to presses and contests. He also began to write newer, longer work concerning life in the borderland, the history of the U.S.-Mexico border, and his family's history.
During his 2024 residency, he edited and wrote poems that will comprise his second poetry collection with the working title My North County.
