Raquel Salas Rivera was born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico[4] and moved to Madison, Wisconsin when he was 6 months old.

[4][5][7] The poet attended the Universidad de Puerto Rico at Mayagüez for his undergraduate degree, and had an instrumental role in organizing student protests at that campus in 2010.

[8] His work lo terciario/the tertiary focuses on the Puerto Rican debt crisis and the economic and social impact of the 2016 United States congressional measure called the PROMESA Law that transferred control of the island's finances and outstanding debt to an external control board.

In 2017, Salas Rivera and Allison Harris raised thousands of dollars to assist lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Puerto Ricans who were impacted by Hurricane Maria that year.

All profits from the sale of the broadsides were donated to the grassroots organization Taller Salud, in order to aid with recovery after the devastation caused by the impact of hurricanes Irma and María.

Salas Rivera has also published in periodicals such as the Revista del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, Apiary, Apogee, BOAAT, and the Boston Review.

[15] According to the selection committee, the poet was chosen because of his desire to use poetry to engage the subject of diversity in Philadelphia and its Puerto Rican community.