Gilbert Arzola was raised in North Judson, Indiana, one generation removed from the back of a migrant truck, where his family was one of three Mexican-American families in an otherwise white community. He started writing in the eighth grade when an English teacher said that he had a way with words. Retired now, his children grown, he has returned to writing poetry, fiction and essays. Arzola is also a high school softball coach and author of a book about fast pitch pitching. His poems and stories have appeared in numerous publications and online, including Whetstone, Palabra, and The Tipton Review. He was the 2019 winner of the Passager Poetry Contest.