Jerilynn Aquino is a Puerto Rican writer from New Jersey. She completed her BA in English from College of Charleston as a first-generation and nontraditional student. She then received an MFA in Fiction from Temple University and now holds a PhD in English from Oklahoma State University. At OSU, her primary area of study was Creative Nonfiction with a secondary focus in Puerto Rican and Caribbean literature. 

Her essays appear in Puerto del Sol, Salt Hill, Booth, Gulf Coast, and others. Her poetry and fiction appear in The Journal, Passages North, and elsewhere. Support for her work includes a Hedgebrook Writing Residency, an AWP Intro Journals Award in Nonfiction, and an Academy of American Poets University Prize.

During her MFA, she served as Fiction Editor for TINGE, Temple’s online literary journal. During her PhD, she was a reader for The Cimarron Review, Nimrod International Journal, and Split Lip Magazine, where she was also Assistant Editor and Social Media Manager. She remains with Split Lip as a Contributing Editor.

She is currently working on a memoir-in-essays about complicated grief after sudden loss.