JOSÉ FAUS, a Bogota, Colombia native and longtime Kansas City resident, is a multi-disciplinary artist, writer, independent teacher, and founding member of the Latino Writers Collective. He is the 2011 winner of the Poets & Writers Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award, sits on the boards of UMKC Friends of the Library and Charlotte Street, and is the former President of the Board of Directors of The Writers Place. José has been involved in many mural works in the Kansas City area, Mexico, and most recently Bolivia, where he received a cultural ambassador grant from the U.S. State Department. He maintains a studio practice in downtown Kansas City, KS.