With his work translated and anthologized around the world, Victor Terán is the preeminent living poet of the Isthmus Zapotec language of Southern Oaxaca, Mexico. He was born in Juchitán de Zaragoza in 1958. His work has been published extensively in magazines and anthologies throughout Mexico. Since 2000, he has also appeared in anthologies in Italy and the United States (Reversible Monuments, Copper Canyon: 2002; Words of the True Peoples, U Texas P: 2005).

A three-time recipient of the national fellowship for writers of indigenous languages, his first book,Diixda; Xieeña (Barefoot Words) was republished in 1997 by Ediciones Bi'cu' Nisa. His books of poetry include Sica ti Gubidxa Cubi (Like a New Sun; Editorial Diana: 1994) and Ca Guichi Xtí' Guendaranaxhii(The Spines of Love; Editorial Praxis: 2003). Terán works as a media education teacher at the secondary level, on the Oaxacan Isthmus.

David Shook's translations of his work have appeared in Poetry, World Literature Today, Hayden's Ferry Review, Agenda, Modern Poetry in Translation, Oxford Magazine, PN Review, and a Poetry Translation Centre chapbook. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and featured on BBC4.