Poet Irena Praitis is a mother, a daughter, a sister, a granddaughter, and an aunt. The author of THE LAST STONE IN THE CIRCLE (Red Mountain Press, 2016) and RODS AND KOANS (Red Mountain Press, 2018), her poems, translations, and essays have appeared in more than a hundred literary journals. A professor of creative writing and literature at California State University, Fullerton, she currently serves as the department chair and walks and runs the roads of Fullerton with her son.