Pat Mora

Pat Mora (born 1942) is a Chicana author known primarily for her poetry and children's books. She also mixes her languages with her books.

Upbringing

She was born in El Paso, Texas, on January 19, 1942. A descendant of four grandparents who came to Texas from Mexico during the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and the early twentieth century, Mora's bilingual and bicultural experiences inform her literary contributions.

Career

Pat Mora is a writer and cultural preservationist who seeks to document the lives of Mexican Americans and U.S. Latinas and Latinos through varying genres such as children's books, poetry, and nonfiction. In her writing, Mora adopts the terrain and life of the Chihuahua desert and recognizes the human and cultural diversity of the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Mora is a popular national speaker shaped by the US/Mexico border where she was born and spent much of her life.

El día de los ninos

Mora is known as well for her founding and promotion of "El día de los ninos/El día de los libros," a celebration of books, children, languages, and cultures. The celebration, now housed at the American Library Association, is recognized annually on April 30 in libraries and schools across the country alongside programming to promote family literacy and multilingualism.

Awards

Mora has 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 Fellowships.

Family

She is married to Vern Scarborough and is the mother of three grown children. She lives Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Books

Adult Books Poetry

• Adobe Odes
• Agua Santa/Holy Water
• Aunt Carmen's Book of Practical Saints
• Borders
• Chants
• Communion

Nonfiction

• House of Houses
• Nepantla
• Zing

Young Adult Books Poetry

• Dizzy in Your Eyes: Poems about Love (2010)
• My Own True Name: New and Selected Poems for Young Adults (2000)

Children’s Books Rhymes and Poetry

• This Big Sky
• Book Fiesta! Celebrate Children's Day, Book Day/Celebremos el Día de los niños, el Día de los libros (bilingual)
• Confetti: Poems for Children
• Confeti: Poemas para niños (Spanish edition)
• Delicious Hullabaloo: Pachanga deliciosa (bilingual)
• The Desert Is My Mother/El desierto es mi madre(bilingual)
• Gracias/Thanks
• Join Hands: The Way We Celebrate
• Love to Mamá: A Tribute to Mothers
• ¡Marimba! Animales A-Z
• The Song of St. Francis and the Animals
• Uno, dos, tres: One, Two, Three
• Yum! ¡Mmm! ¡Qué Rico! America's Sproutings
• Yum! ¡Mmm! ¡Qué Rico! Brotes de las Américas(Spanish edition)

Prose

• Abuelos
• Abuelos (Spanish edition)
• Agua Agua Agua
• Agua Agua Agua (Spanish edition)
• The Bakery Lady/La señora de la panaderia (bilingual)
• A Birthday Basket for Tía
• Doña Flor: A Tall Tale About a Giant Woman With a Great Big Heart
• Doña Flor: Un Cuento de una Mujer Gigante con un Grande Corazón (Spanish edition)
• The Gift of the Poinsettia: El regalo de la flor de nochebuena (bilingual)
• A Library for Juana: The World of Sor Juana Inés
• Una Biblioteca para Juana: El Mundo de Sor Juana Inés (Spanish edition)
• Listen to the Desert: Oye al desierto
• Maria Paints the Hills
• My Family/Mi Familia series: Here Kitty, Kitty/¡Ven gatita, ven! (bilingual)
• My Family/Mi Familia series: Let's Eat ¡A comer! (bilingual)
• My Family/Mi Familia series: Sweet Dreams ¡Dulces sueños! (bilingual)
• My Family/Mi Familia series: Wiggling Pockets/Los bolsillos saltarines (bilingual)
• The Night the Moon Fell
• La noche que se cayó la luna (Spanish edition)
• Pablo's Tree
• A Piñata in a Pine Tree: A Latino Twelve Days of Christmas
• The Race of Toad and Deer
• La carrera del sapo y el venado (Spanish edition)
• The Rainbow Tulip
• Tomás and the Library Lady
• Tomás y la señora de la biblioteca (Spanish edition)

External links

• Author website