Yarisa Colón Torres, is a Puerto Rican poet and handmade book creator, born in Puerto Rico on March 1st, 1977. She earned a Bachelor's Degree in Black & Puerto Rican Studies and Psychology from Hunter College, CUNY, and a Master’s Degree in Puerto Rican Literature from the Center for the Advanced Studies on Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. For over fifteen years, Yarisa has been experimenting with the creation of unique handmade books. She also organizes handmade bookmaking workshops for children and adults, publishes limited editions of poetry books, and collaborates with visual artists on multi-disciplinary projects. In 2012, Yarisa was selected to participate at the Global Voices Bloggers Summit, held in Nairobi, Kenya. She also received the Cropper Foundation Writer’s Fellowship based in Trinidad & Tobago in 2010, and the BRIO Awards (Crafts, 2014) granted by the Bronx Council on the Arts. Her creations have traveled to Spain, Italy, Ecuador, among other places around the world. Currently, Yarisa co-directs the studio/store Lola & Julia with artist Tanya Torres.