Irene Marques is a bilingual writer (writing in English and Portuguese) and Lecturer at Toronto Metropolitan University in the Department of English. She holds a PhD in Comparative Literature, Masters in French and Comparative Literature from the University of Toronto, and a Social Work Degree from TMU. She has published eight books in various genres (novel, poetry, short fiction and academic). Her most recent works include the poetry collection The Bare Bones of Our Alphabet (Mawenzi House, 2024), and the novels Daria (Inanna Publications, 2021) and Uma Casa no Mundo (Imprensa Nacional, 2021), which won Imprensa Nacional/Ferreira de Castro Prize in Portugal. www.irenemarques.net