Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival Apr. 23-26, 2026

VIPF 2026: The Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival

McAllen, TX,

The Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival, established in 2008, is a four-day poetry festival in deep South Texas held concurrently in two countries on the last full weekend in April. You don't need to register in order to submit to our anthology, Boundless. We feed you dinner on Saturday night as part of the Poetry Pachanga--the event that started it all. V.I.P.F. is a program of 
Art That Heals, Inc., and  El Zarape Press, with sponsorship from by Creative Alignment Consulting and the McAllen Chamber of Commerce and welcomes poets from around the world.

2026 VIPF FEATURED POETS

Featured Poets of the 19th Annual Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival 2026

(Apr. 23- Apr.26, 2026)

Gustavo Hernandez is the author of the poetry collection Flower Grand First (Moon Tide Press, 2021) and Bachelor (FlowerSong Press, 2025). In January 2024, Hernandez was appointed Poet Laureate of Orange County, California. He was born in Jalisco, Mexico and was raised in Santa Ana, California, where he still resides.

Luivette Resto is an award-winning poet, a mother of three revolutionary humans, and a middle school English teacher. She was born in Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico, and was proudly raised in the Bronx, New York. She is a CantoMundo and Macondo Fellow. Her books of poetry include Unfinished Portrait (2008) and Ascension (2013), both published by Tía Chucha Press, as well as Living on Islands Not Found on Maps (FlowerSong Press, 2022). Her work has been mentioned in the LA Times and Ms. Magazine, and her work has been published in North American Review. Resto is the associate editor of Tía Chucha Press, and she serves on the boards of Women Who Submit and Beyond Baroque. She lives in the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles.

Juania Sueños is a queer Chicanx writer, educator, translator, mother, & community advocate. She co-founded and is an editor at Infrarrealista Review. Her work has appeared in Acentos Review, New York Quarterly, Sybil Journal, The Skink Beat Review, Porter House Review, Nat. Brut, and the Westchester Review. She is a migratory bird from Zacatecas. She has collaborated with Texas After Violence Project on various projects since 2021. On her desk sit many peculiar, sidewalk-found objects, an MFA diploma in Creative Writing from Texas State. She's the author of the hybrid poetry collection topography of a border / line bird (Mouthfeel Press, 2025) Mouthfeel Press

Jessica Helen Lopez was the City of Albuquerque Poet Laureate (2014-16), and has authored five poetry collections. Her recent book, "The Blood Poems," was released by the University of New Mexico Press. A Justice for Rural and Migrant Womens’ Fellow, Lopez is an adjunct for the UNM Chican@ Studies Department. A California-born Xicana, she is a NM Humanities Council Chautauqua Scholar, award-winning slam poet, recipient of the NM Women's Press Zia Book Award and was featured as, "One of 10 Up and Coming LatinX Poets You Need to Know," by Remezcla. Visit her at jessicahelenlopezpoet.wordpress.com. 

Kenan Phillip is a Dominica-born poet living along the Texas-Mexico border, where he is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Currently, he serves as Volunteer Coordinator and board member of the Unfolded Poetry Project, a poetry-centered nonprofit based in the RGV. He is currently working on a creative thesis exploring intercultural and Afro-Caribbean/Latino poetics, decolonialism, and the poetics of relation. 

Jeff Knorr is the author of five books of poetry, Fire Season (Flowersong Press), The Color of a New Country (Mammoth Books), The Third Body (Cherry Grove Collections), Keeper (Mammoth Books), and Standing Up to the Day (Pecan Grove Press).  His other works include Mooring Against the Tide: Writing Poetry and Fiction (Prentice Hall); the anthology, A Writer's Country (Prentice Hall); and The River Sings: An Introduction to Poetry (Prentice Hall).  His poetry and essays have appeared widely in literary journals and anthologies including Poetry Northwest, Atlanta Review, Chelsea, The Journal, North American Review, Red Rock Review, Barrow Street, and Like Thunder: Poets Respond to Violence in America.