Mario René Padilla’s poetry and fiction have appeared in North American Review, The Antioch Review, New Letters, Alligator Juniper, The Ledge, INKWELL Magazine, Americas Review, Tulip Tree Review, Atlanta Review, Chiron Review, Windward magazine, among many others. His first collection of poetry, Reaching Back for the Neverendings, appeared in 1994 from Red Dancefloor Press in Los Angeles. His second collection, Blue Plums & Weeds, was published in March 2021 by PSPOETS in Los Angeles. His unpublished short story collection Scales and Other Stories won second place in the Red Hen Press 2016 Fiction Prize and was a finalist for the Snake Nation Press 2017 Fiction Award. His short story “Scales” from that collection won First Prize in TulipTree Publishing's fiction contest, and published in Stories That Need to Be Told 2020. His story, “La Château Possonniere,” from that same collection, also won First Prize in TulipTree Publishing's fiction contest, and was published in Stories That Need to Be Told 2017.

        Padilla won a Fulbright Award for collecting and translating the early poetry and prose of Jorge Luis Borges for his critical study, Young Ultraísta: the Early Writing of Jorge Luis Borges, published by Atopon Books, Los Angeles, and scheduled for release November 1, 2023. Padilla is of Mexican-Italian descent. He grew up, nevertheless, a “mid-western” kid from Ohio. Multi-culturalism and mixed-cultural identity issues are central themes in his work. He received a B.S from the Ohio State University, an M.A. in English from Loyola Marymount, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from U.S.C. He is a professor of Creative Writing, and English & Latin American Literature. at Santa Monica College in California.