Teresa Mei Chuc (Tuệ Mỹ Chúc) was born in Sài Gòn, Việt Nam and fled her Vietnamese homeland in a boat with her mother and brother shortly after the American war. Her father, who served in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, was imprisoned in a Vietcong reeducation camp for nine years. Teresa grew up on unceded Tongva territory in Pasadena and Altadena, California. A former Altadena Poet Laureate (2018-2020), Teresa is the author of three poetry books, Invisible Light (2018), Keeper of the Winds (2014) and Red Thread (2012). Her poetry chapbook, Incidental Takes, was published by Hummingbird Press in 2023. Teresa’s poetry was recently published in the anthologies–Here Was Once the Sea: An Anthology of Southeast Asian Ecowriting (University of Hawaii Press, 2023), Attached to the Living World: A New Ecopoetry Anthology (Trinity University Press, 2025), and Colossus: Current, The Ways and Workings of Water (Colossus Press, 2025), and in About Place Journal, “On Freedom” Issue. Teresa is co-editor of the anthology, Convergence: Poetry on Environmental Impacts of War (Scarlet Tanager Books, 2026). Teresa has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (Poetry) from Goddard College and is a public high school English teacher in Los Angeles.