Ignacio Sarmiento holds a PhD in Spanish from Tulane University. He’s an Associate Professor of Central American and Transborder Studies at California State University, Northridge. His first book, Specters of War: The Battle of Mourning in Post-Conflict Central America, explores grief and memory in contemporary El Salvador and Guatemala. This book was partially based on his doctoral dissertation, which was completed during a scholarly retreat at A Studio in the Woods in 2017.