Fernando Rivas (TX)

Fernando Rivas 23452-171
Federal Correctional Institution
PO BOX 9000, Unit 53
Seagoville, TX 75159-9000

Fernando Rivas is a Cuban-born award-winning composer and writer. He graduated from the Juilliard School in 1977 after studying with David Diamond and Vincent Persichetti. He composed music for various television programs, for film and theater. In 2016, while incarcerated, he received an honorable mention from the PEN America prison writing program for his poem ‘300 Min.’. In 2019 he won the American Short Fiction Insider’s Prize award and an honorable mention on the Texas Observer short story contest. He considers himself an activist for prison and sentencing reform and an advocate for a more rational judicial system.

Fernando’s new poetry book can be found on Amazon