Meet Our Team

The Bayou Review provides a platform for new and established writers and artists to feature their work. Our dedicated prose editor and intern team carefully review all submissions and select pieces ranging from prose, poetry, and visual works.

Spring 2024 Interns

Sasha Smith

Sasha Smith (she/her) is a senior at the University of Houston-Downtown and will be graduating in the Spring 2024 semester with a B.A in English. Sasha is a poet who specializes in topics ranging in love, trauma, loss, friendship, etc. She includes working out, wrestling, watching anime, and reading fiction novels. She aspires to write her own poetry series, and write a best selling ficition book.

Estrella Ascencio

Estrella Ascencio (she/her) is a senior at UHD, graduating in the spring of 2024 with a B.A in English. Estrella enjoys writing all types of genres: poetry, flash fiction, creative non-fiction, etc. She is someone who is not afraid to play with different kinds of hats. Aside from writing, she enjoys mobile filmmaking, listening to music, and hiking. Estrella is very eager to be a part of this team.

Emmanuel Morrison

Emmanuel Morrison, (he/him), is a graduating senior at the University of Houston-Downtown majoring in English with a minor in History. He is a leading mentor for the LEGACI student success program, a position he has held for three years in total. As a writer, he focuses on cultural analysis and long-form creative writing. Common themes he works with are family and religious trauma, black neurodivergency, and black masculinity. In his free time, he enjoys reading for leisure and video games.

Evelyn Dominguez

Evelyn Dominguez (she/her) is a senior at the University of Houston- Downtown, and she will be graduating in Spring 2024 with a B.A. in English and a minor in Spanish. She is the secretary of UHD's Pre-Law Association. For writing, her focus is on essay writing but she also enjoys writing creative fiction. In her spare time, she enjoys working out, journaling, reading, and drawing.

ALEXA CORONADO

Alexa Coronado (she/her) is a senior at the University of Houston-Downtown, majoring in English. Alexa has always had a passion for reading and writing, which was instilled in her by her father at an early age. He introduced her to many Latino authors, who quickly became her inspirations. She likes to dabble in all forms of writing, from fiction to nonfiction, yet her favorite is poetry. The unpublished works in her Google Docs focus on a myriad of themes, from love to family life to the life of a Mexican immigrant in the United States. And when she’s not writing, she can be found within the masses at concerts.

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Faculty Advisor

Dr. Stalina Villarreal (she/they) currently works as an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at University of Houston-Downtown. Their debut collection of poetry Watcha is forthcoming from Deep Vellum Publishing. Her poetry can be found in the Rio Grande Review, Texas Review, The Acentos Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, Defunkt Magazine, and elsewhere. They are the translator of Enigmas by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Photograms of My Heart, Absolutely Blind by Minerva Reynosa, Kilimanjaro by Maricela Guerrero, and Postcards in Braille by Sergio Pérez Torres. She is the recipient of the Inprint Donald Barthelme Prize in Poetry.

Dr. Stalina Villarreal