Pat Mora's Adult Biography

"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 Agua Santa: Holy Water, Pat's collection now reprinted by The University of Arizona Press. Last year Tucson Weekly Wrote that her sixth collection, Adobe Odes, also published by the University of Arizona Press, "turns its back on hopelessness and finds a way to delight in our everyday world of food, literature, nature, religion and yes, people." Her other poetry collections include Aunt Carmen's Book of Practical Saints, Communion, Borders, and Chants.

Nepantla: Essays from the Land in the Middle will be published in paperback this year. The Washington Post described Pat's 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." It will be republished by The University of Arizona Press next year.

Pat received an Honorary Doctorate in Letters from SUNY Buffalo in 2006. Among her other awards are the 2006 National Hispanic Cultural Center Literary Award and a 2003 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.

Pat has written many award-winning children's books. She is the founder of the family literacy initiative El día de los niños / El día de los libros, Children's Day / Book Day ("Día") , now housed at the American Library Association. The year-long commitment to linking all children to books, languages and cultures, of sharing what Pat calls "bookjoy," culminates in celebrations across the country on April 30th.

Pat is a popular national speaker shaped by the U.S.-Mexico border where she was born and spent most of her life. She is the mother of three grown children and lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.