John Paul Jaramillo grew up in Pueblo, Colorado the grandson of steelworkers and holds an MFA in creative writing from Oregon State University. Currently, he teaches composition and literature at Lincoln Land College in Springfield, Illinois. He is the author of the short story collection The House of Order (2012), named a Latino Book Award Finalist, and the novel Little Mocos (2017) from Twelve Winters Press. In 2013 Latino Boom listed Jaramillo as one of its Top 10 New Latino Authors to Watch and Read.
Jaramillo’s work explores the link between family, trauma, and place. As Mary Jean Porter writes, “Jaramillo is writing about working in Southern Colorado farm fields, driving and drinking beer and smoking pot; visiting family members in the state penitentiary; about tattooed pregnant girls, dirty kids in laundromats and their desperate mothers, back through several generations. What saves these stories is the grace in which they are written.”
