33: Ben & Daniel talk with writer
& poet, Pat Mora. Mora talks about her experience in writing in
different genres, including her struggles in getting her children's books
bought and published. She also discusses the arms-length relationship she
and other children's book authors have with their illustrators.
For the Poem of the Week, Mora
reads "Ode to Our Lady of Guadalupe" from her book "Adobe Odes."
"Ms.
Mora's poems are proudly bilingual, an eloquent answer to purists who refuse to
see language as something that lives and changes," wrote The New
York Times of Pat Mora's poetry collection, Agua
Santa: Holy Water. Her most recent collection is Dizzy
in Your Eyes: Poems about Love written in the voices of teens. Other
collections include Adobe Odes, Aunt Carmen's Book of Practical Saints, Communion, Borders and Chants.
The Washington Post described her acclaimed memoir House
of Houses
as a "textual feast...a regenerative act...and an eloquent bearer of the
old truth that it is through the senses that we apprehend love." Nepantla:
Essays from the Land in the Middle was reviewed by Choice as,
"Twenty inspiring essays written in a very poetic prose...A valuable
contribution to American literature." Pat's most recent book of nonfiction
is Zing! Seven Creativity Practices for Educators and Students.
She
received Honorary Doctorates in Letters from North Carolina State University
and SUNY Buffalo and is an Honorary Member of the American Library Association.
Among her other awards are the 2006 National Hispanic Cultural Center Literary
Award and a Civitella Ranieri Fellowship to write in Umbria, Italy. She was a
Visiting Carruthers Chair at the University of New Mexico, a recipient and
judge of the Poetry Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a
recipient and advisor of the Kellogg National Leadership Fellowships.
A
former teacher, university administrator, consultant and the author of many
award-winning children's books, Pat founded the family literacy initiative El
día de los niños / El día de los libros, Children's Day / Book Day in 1996. It
is now housed at the American Library Association. The year-long commitment to
link all children with books, languages and cultures, and of sharing what Pat
calls "bookjoy," culminates in April celebrations across the country.
Pat
is a popular national speaker at conferences, campuses, libraries and schools.
The mother of three adult children, Pat is married to anthropology professor
Vern Scarborough and lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
(Taken from http://www.patmora.com/adultbio.htm
)
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