Emmy Pérez is a

Chicanx ''Xicanx'' ( , ) is an English-language gender-neutral neologism and identity referring to people of Mexicans, Mexican and Latin American descent in the United States. The suffix replaces the ending of ''Chicano'' and ''Chicana'' that are typi ...

poet and writer originally from

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana () is the second most populous city and the county seat of Orange County, California. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census, making Santa Ana the List of ...

, United States. She was a recipient of a

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

Poetry Fellowship in 2017. She has lived in the

borderlands A borderland or borderlands are the geographical space or zone around a territorial border. Borderland or borderlands may refer to: Places * Borderland, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in Mingo County, West Virginia * Borderland (ele ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

since 2000, where she has taught creative writing in college and MFA programs, as well as in detention facilities and as part of

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

projects. Her latest collective is Poets Against the Border Wall. She was also a fellow (2010–12) and organizing committee member of

CantoMundo CantoMundo is an American literary organization founded in 2009 to support Latino poets and poetry. It hosts an annual poetry workshop dedicated to the creation, documentation, and critical analysis of Latinx poetry. History CantoMundo was founded ...

(2018–19) and is a long-time member of Macondo Writers Workshop. She is best known for her collections, ''With the River on Our Face'' and ''Solstice''. She received the 2009 Alfredo Cisneros del Moral award for her writing, an award started by

Sandra Cisneros Sandra Cisneros (born December 20, 1954) is an American writer. She is best known for her first novel, ''The House on Mango Street'' (1983), and her subsequent short story collection, ''Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories'' (1991). Her work ex ...

. Previously, she received the James D. Phelan Literary Award from the

San Francisco Foundation San Francisco Foundation is a San Francisco Bay Area philanthropy organization. It is one of the largest community foundations Community foundations (CFs) are instruments of civil society designed to pool donations into a coordinated investment and ...

. In 2019, she was named the Poet Laureate for Texas for 2020. She began her stewardship in March 2020.

Biography and reception

She graduated from

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

with an undergraduate degree, and received her MFA from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. She teaches at

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) is a public research university with multiple campuses throughout the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas and is the southernmost member of the University of Texas System. The University of Texas ...

where she is a full professor. She is also the associate director for the Center of Mexican Studies. When she was named Poet Laureate of Texas for 2020,

State Representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...

John Cyrier said: "The great talents of the 2019-2020 State Artists, along with all of those who were nominated, help contribute to a distinctive cultural identity that makes Texas a great place to live, work and visit. It is important that we celebrate the distinguished career achievements of these artists which have enhanced the lives of so many.” She has been the recipient of many prestigious awards and fellowships, including, but not limited to:

the New York Foundation for the Arts The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is an independent 501(c)(3) charity, funded through government, foundation, corporate, and individual support, established in 1971. It is part of a network of national not-for-profit arts organizations ...

, the

Fine Arts Work Center The Fine Arts Work Center is a non-profit enterprise devoted to encouraging the growth and development of emerging visual artists and writers through residency programs, to the propagation of aesthetic values and experience, and to the restoratio ...

in Provincetown, and the Ucross Foundation.

Bibliography

Pérez has written two books, ''With the River on Our Face'' and ''Solstice.'' ''With the River on Our Face'' is a poetry collection book written about Texas' Southwest borderlands. Each poem in the book talks about the life in the south borders of Texas along the

Rio Grande Valley The Lower Rio Grande Valley ( es, Valle del Río Grande), commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley or locally as the Valley or RGV, is a region spanning the border of Texas and Mexico located in a floodplain of the Rio Grande near its mouth. The ...

and how lives are affected by politics and global forces.

Works

Collections * ''With the River on Our Face'' Tucson : The University of Arizona Press, 2016. , * ''Solstice'' Sacramento, CA : Swan Scythe Press, 2011. , Poems * o Strawberry Moonfrom Poem a Day with audi
No Strawberry Moon
*Not One More Refugee Death at the Poetry Foundation website
Not one more refugee death
*Downriver Río Grande Ghazalion from ''With the River on Our Face'
Downriver Río Grande Ghazalion
*Halladay Street from ''Solstice'

*NEA for Poetry List 201
NEA fellows
* Texas Poets Laureate lis
Texas poets laureate
* CantoMundo Organizing Committe
CantoMundo
* Alfredo Cisneros de Moral Writing Award 200
Cisneros Writing Award 2019

References

External links

*
Breaking Open Gates: A Conversation with Emmy Pérez
''World Literature Today'', January 2018 * Poetry Against the Border Wall: Aracelis Girmay and Emmy Perez in Conversatio
Arizona Press Poetry Against the Border Wall Aracelis Girmay and Emmy Pérez in Conversation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perez, Emmy American women poets Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American women