e. E. CHARLTON-TRUJILLO
e.E. Charlton-Trujillo is a Mexican American filmmaker, literacy activist, and ALA award–winning author who writes picture books, middle grade, and young adult fiction. They are the cofounder of Never Counted Out, a nonprofit that provides access to books and creative mentorship to at-risk youth. Deemed a “force of nature” by Kirkus Reviews, Trujillo speaks with humor and heart at festivals, universities, schools, and juvenile detention centers across America, celebrating diversity, inclusivity, and young people being heard. Follow them on social media @pinatadirector or #YourStoryIsARevolution.
RUBÉN DEGOLLADO
Rubén Degollado’s work has appeared in Bilingual Review/La Revista Bilingüe, Beloit Fiction Journal, Gulf Coast, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Image, and Relief. His debut YA novel, Throw, was published in 2019 and won the 2019 Texas Institute of Letters Jean Flynn Award for Best Young Adult Book. His second novel, The Family Izquierdo, is forthcoming from W. W. Norton. “La Princesa Mileidy Dominguez” is dedicated to the past, present, and future quinceañeras of San Benito Veterans Memorial Academy and across the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. A special thank-you to the staff and community of SBVMA for making dreams come true.
CAROLYN DEE FLORES
Carolyn Dee Flores is the author and illustrator of The Amazing Watercolor Fish, as well as the illustrator of A Surprise for Teresita; Sing, Froggie, Sing; and Daughters of Two Nations. She has won numerous awards and accolades for her work: she was a finalist for the Tomás Rivera Award, received the Skipping Stones Award for Multicultural and International Books, was a National Picture Book Champion, and has appeared twice on the Tejas Star Reading List.
GUADALUPE GARCÍA MCCALL
Guadalupe García McCall is an award-winning author and poet. Her debut novel in verse, Under the Mesquite, received the prestigious Pura Belpré Author Award, was a William C. Morris Award Finalist, received the International Literacy Association Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award and the Tomás Rivera Children’s Book Award, and was included in Kirkus Reviews’ 2011 Best Books for Teens, among many other accolades. Her second novel, Summer of the Mariposas, won a Westchester Young Adult Fiction Award, was a finalist for the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy, and was included in the 2013 Amelia Bloomer Project List, the Texas Lone Star Reading List, and School Library Journal’s 2012 Best Books of the Year. Her poems for children have appeared in The Poetry Friday Anthology, I Remember: Poems and Pictures of Heritage, and No Voice Too Small: Fourteen Young Americans Making History. Her third novel, Shame the Stars, received a Kirkus starred review, was listed on the TAYSHAS Reading List, and was chosen as the 2018 Texas Great Read by the Center for the Book, Her most recently published book, All the Stars Denied, was a 2018 Writers’ League of Texas Book Award Finalist as well as a 2019 Texas Institute of Letters YA Book Award Finalist. She has a fifth book, her first gothic novel, Echoes of Grace, forthcoming from Tu Books in 2022.
DANIEL GARCÍA ORDAZ
Daniel García Ordaz, also known as the Poet Mariachi, is the author of Cenzontle/Mockingbird: Songs of Empowerment and You Know What I’m Sayin’? García Ordaz, an educator and songwriter, is also a founder of the Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival and an established voice in Mexican American poetry.
XAVIER GARZA
Xavier Garza is an award-winning author of Creepy Creatures and Other Cucuys; Lucha Libre: The Man in the Silver Mask: A Bilingual Cuento; Juan and the Chupacabras/Juan y el Chupacabras; Charro Claus and the Texas Kid; Zulema and the Witch Owl/Zulema y la Bruja Lechuza; Kid Cyclone Fights the Devil and Other Stories/Kid Ciclon Se Enfrenta a el Diablo y Otras Historias; Maximilian & the Mystery of the Guardian Angel: A Bilingual Lucha Libre Thriller; Maximilian & the Bingo Rematch: A Lucha Libre Sequel; The Great and Mighty Nikko; The Donkey Lady Fights la Llorona and Other Stories; and Maximilian & the Lucha Libre Club: A Bilingual Lucha Libre Thriller. He has been honored with the Pure Belpré Honor, and his books are on several reading lists including Tejas Star and Texas Institute of Letters.
TRINIDAD GONZALES
Trinidad Gonzales is a history instructor at South Texas College and a cofounder of Refusing to Forget, an award-winning nonprofit public-history project devoted to bringing awareness to state-sanctioned violence against ethnic Mexicans that occurred during the 1910s in Texas. Gonzales has published op-ed pieces in Austin American-Statesmen, San Antonio Express-News, and The Monitor concerning issues of immigration and Mexican American studies. His scholarly publications deal with issues of identity, borderlands, and Mexican American politics. He also taught the first dual-enrollment Mexican American studies course in Texas at Mission High School. Gonzales is a former American Historical Association Teaching Division councilor and continues to advise on the AHA Texas Conference on Introductory History Courses that he helped begin.
DIANA LÓPEZ
Diana López is the author of Sofia’s Saints and numerous middle grade novels, including Confetti Girl; Nothing Up My Sleeve; Lucky Luna; and Coco: A Story about Music, Shoes, and Family, a middle grade adaption of the Disney/Pixar film Coco.
ANNA MERIANO
Anna Meriano is the author of the Love Sugar Magic series and This Is How We Fly. She graduated from Rice University with a degree in English and earned her MFA in creative writing with an emphasis in writing for children from the New School in New York. She works as a writing teacher and tutor in her hometown of Houston. Anna likes reading, knitting, and playing full-contact quidditch.
JUSTINE MARIE NARRO
Justine Marie Narro is a poet from the Rio Grande Valley. She holds a BA in English literature. Her poems have been published on various websites, and she is an open-mic poet around the Rio Grande Valley.
GUADALUPE RUIZ-FLORES
Guadalupe Ruiz-Flores is the author of six award-winning bilingual children’s picture books published by Arte Público Press: Let’s Salsa, Lupita’s First Dance, Alicia’s Fruity Drinks, The Battle of the Snow Cones, The Woodcutter’s Gift, and Lupita’s Papalote. Her books have appeared on the Tejas Star Reading List on numerous occasions. Some of her poetry has been published in anthologies.
AIDA SALAZAR
Aida Salazar is the award-winning author of the verse novel The Moon Within (International Latino Book Award, Américas Award Honor, Golden Poppy Award) and the critically acclaimed Land of the Cranes. She also authored the picture books Jovita Wore Pants: The Story of a Revolutionary Fighter and In the Spirit of a Dream: 13 Stories of Immigrants of Color. Her work has received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly. She is a founding member of Las Musas, a Latinx kidlit author collective. Her story “By the Light of the Moon” was adapted into a ballet by the Sonoma Conservatory of Dance and is the first Xicana-themed ballet in history.
RENÉ SALDAÑA JR.
René Saldaña Jr. is an associate professor of language, diversity, and literacy studies in the College of Education at Texas Tech University. He is also the author of many young adult and middle grade novels, which include The Jumping Tree, The Whole Sky Full of Stars, A Good Long Way, and the bilingual flip-book Mickey Rangel detective mystery series. He is the editor of a YA poetry anthology on body image titled I SING: THE BODY.
SYLVIA SÁNCHEZ GARZA
Sylvia Sánchez Garza grew up in Weslaco, Texas, and now lives in Edinburg, Texas, with her husband, sons, and dogs. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends and serving the culturally rich and beautiful community of the Rio Grande Valley. As a former teacher and a current school board member, Sylvia values education and is grateful for the opportunities that have been given to her. She holds a BA in English, an MA in school administration, and a PhD in leadership studies. Cascarones, a coming-of-age novel about the cultures and traditions of growing up as a Mexican American in South Texas, was her first book, published by Floricanto Press. It has won several awards, including a Literary Classics Go
ld Star, a Texas Writer Award, and a Literary Titan Silver Book Award. Garza is presently working on a YA novel as well as a poetry manuscript.
FRANCISCO X. STORK
Francisco X. Stork emigrated from Mexico at the age of nine with his mother and stepfather. He is the author of eight novels, including Marcelo in the Real World, recipient of the Schneider Family Book Award; The Last Summer of the Death Warriors, which received the Elizabeth Walden Award; The Memory of Light, recipient of the Tomás Rivera Award; and Disappeared, which received four starred reviews and was a Walter Dean Myers Award Honor Book.
ALEX TEMBLADOR
Alex Temblador is the Mixed Latinx author of the YA novel Secrets of the Casa Rosada, which received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews, won the 2019 NACCS Tejas Foco Young Adult Fiction Award, was a Kirkus Reviews Best Young Adult Book of 2018, won the 2018 Middle Grade/Young Adult Discovery Prize from the Writers’ League of Texas, and was included on Texas Library Association’s 2020 TAYSHAS Reading List. In addition to her upcoming adult magical realism novel, Half Outlaw, Alex’s creative work has appeared in PALABRITAS and Speculative Fiction for Dreamers: A Latinx Anthology. The Dallas-based author is a creative writing instructor and moderator of Dallas–Fort Worth’s author panel series LitTalk, as well as a public speaker on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and a freelance travel, arts, and design writer for internationally known publications.
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Living Beyond Borders Page 17
