Melinda Palacio is a poet and novelist. Reviewers of her poetry collection “Folsom Lockdown,” have said that “her rich expressions were full of passion…the vivid voices of the characters in her poems.” Her new novel, “Ocotillo Dreams” was published by the Bilingual Review Press in 2011. In 2010, she participated in the Festival de Flor y Canto at the University of Southern California where she read several poems. Latinopia was there to record the event.