Daniel Shank Cruz is a writer, scholar, and former professor of English whose work explores Mennonite literature, queer theory, Latinx identity, disability, and contemporary literature. They currently serve as Special Assistant for U.S. Free Expression Programs at PEN America after spending a decade teaching English at institutions including Northern Illinois University, Westminster University, Utica University, and Hunter College. Cruz holds a PhD and MA in English from Northern Illinois University and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Hunter College. They are the author of Queering Mennonite Literature: Archives, Activism, and the Search for Community, Ethics for Apocalyptic Times: Theapoetics, Autotheory, and Mennonite Literature, and the poetry collection a good possible year for an apocalypse. Their scholarship and creative writing bring literary criticism, memoir, poetry, queer and disability studies, and Mennonite cultural criticism into sustained conversation.