Born in Guatemala of Iadino parents, Omar S. Castaneda moved to the United States at age three and grew up in the Midwest, where he was naturalized at age eleven. He teaches at Western Washington University, where he directs The Hubless Wheel, a reading series that features minority and ethnic writers. Castaneda is the author of Cunuman, among the Volcanoes, and Abuela's Weave; and he coedited New Visions: Fiction by Florida Writers .