Nina Serrano (born 1934) is an American poet, writer, storyteller, and independent media producer who lives in

Vallejo, California Vallejo ( ; ) is a city in Solano County, California and the second largest city in the North Bay region of the Bay Area. Located on the shores of San Pablo Bay, the city had a population of 126,090 at the 2020 census. Vallejo is home to th ...

. She is the author of ''Heart Songs: The Collected Poems of Nina Serrano'' (1980) and ''Pass it on!: How to start your own senior storytelling program in the schools'' (Stagebridge). Her poems are widely anthologized, including the literary anthology, ''Under the Fifth Sun: Latino Writers from California'' (

Heyday Books Heyday is an independent nonprofit publisher based in Berkeley, California. Heyday was founded by Malcolm Margolin in 1974 when he wrote, typeset, designed, and distributed ''The East Bay Out'', a guide to the natural history of the hills and b ...

), and three anthologies of peace poems edited by Mary Rudge from Estuary Press. She has also translated two chapbooks from Peruvian poet Adrian Arias. She currently leads storytelling workshops at senior centers and elementary schools through Stagebridge.org. She is the former director of the San Francisco Poetry in the Schools program and the Bay Area's Storytellers in the Schools program. A Latina activist for social justice, women's rights, and the arts.

Biography

Early life

Serrano was born in 1934 in

Weehawken, New Jersey Weehawken is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located largely on the Hudson Palisades overlooking the Hudson River. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 17,197.

to Ida and Joseph Serrano. She grew up in Latino and other immigrant communities in New York City. She trained in theater, studied

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

at the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

, and traveled with student peace groups to

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

and revolutionary China in the 1950s. While raising her family and teaching, Nina has worked in theater, radio, and film. She helped make movies about Fidel Castro's Cuba, about Salvador Allende's Chile and Sandinista Nicaragua. In Cuba, in 1968, she met Salvadorean exiled poet

Roque Dalton Roque is an American variant of croquet played on a hard, smooth surface. Popular in the first quarter of the 20th century and billed "the Game of the Century" by its enthusiasts, it was an Olympic sport in the 1904 Summer Games, replacing cr ...

and they co-authored a TV drama about the folkloric Dalton Gang and saw it produced on Cuban television. This instantly made her a writer. Returning to San Francisco, journalism, playwriting and poetry filled the early years of her development as an activist writer. She wrote a series of articles on the Los Siete trial and wrote poetry published in the San Francisco Good Times. In 1969, she joined Editorial Pocho Che, an activist publishing group of Latino poets. She wrote her first book of poetry, ''Heart Songs'', during this period, and it was published in 1980. During the next three decades, she published her next books, '' Heart's Journey: Selected Poems, 1980-1999'' and '' Heart Strong: Selected Poems 2000-2012'', as well as appeared in many

poetry anthologies In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

. Through her friendships with Cuban poets, Nina began translating poetry, including her translations of Peruvian poet Adrian Arias. In 1982, she helped translate the Nicaraguan economic program of 1980, available as a bilingual edition from Estuary Press. In 1972, she joined Communicacion Aztlan, writing and producing

radio programs A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio networ ...

for KPFA. Over the next 20 years, in addition to her on-going radio work, she wrote and produced several stage plays, including '' The Story of the Chicken Made of Rags'', '' The Story of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg'' and '' Weavings''. She also wrote and produced film scripts, including Que Hacer? (What is to Be Done?), Después del terremoto (After the Earthquake), and Back from Nicaragua.

Works

Awards

Serrano has won several international film awards, including the XXXIII Mostra internazionale D'Arte Cinematografica award for '' Que Hacer: What is to Be Done?;'' and the Kraków, Poland International Film Festival award for ''After the Earthquake: Despues del terremoto. Nina Serrano was awarded ''Oakland Magazines "Best Local Poet" award in 2010.

Personal life

Serrano served as an

Alameda County Alameda County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and 21st most populous nationally. The county seat is Oakland. Alam ...

Arts Commissioner, and is a former director of San Francisco's Poetry in the Schools program. She was a co-founder of the

Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts (MCCLA) is an arts nonprofit that was founded in 1977, and is located at 2868 Mission Street in the Mission District in San Francisco, California. They provide art studio space, art classes, an art gallery, ...

in San Francisco's

Mission District The Mission District (Spanish: ''Distrito de la Misión''), commonly known as The Mission (Spanish: ''La Misión''), is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. One of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District's name is ...

, where she is still actively involved. In addition, she is a long-time producer of radio programs on Pacifica Radio station KPFA (94.1 FM) in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

, currently hosting ''La Raza Chronicles'' on Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m. PT and ''Open Book'' the first and second Wednesday of each month at 3:30 pm PT. Nina Serrano appears in the video "Frida en El Espejo/Frida in the Mirror" by Adrian Arias and music by Greg Landau which screened at the SF Film Festival in April 2009. She is a great fan of the band Carne Cruda and their song “Oakland's Tight.” She is consultant for Round World Media and Fig Leaf Technologies.

References

External links

* __FORCETOC__ {{DEFAULTSORT:Serrano, Nina Activists from the San Francisco Bay Area American activists American radio producers American anti–Vietnam War activists Hispanic and Latino American writers Writers from Oakland, California Radio personalities from San Francisco 1934 births Living people American women poets Writers from Vallejo, California 20th-century American women 21st-century American women Women radio producers