Gloria Amescua
{{short description|American poet}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{BLP sources|date=March 2017}}
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| name = Gloria Amescua
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| birth_place = Austin, Texas
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| nationality = Mexican American
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| citizenship = American
| education = University of Texas at Austin (BA, MEd)
| occupation = Writer, poet, educator
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| notable_works = "Windchimes" and "What Remains"
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Gloria Amescua is a Latina and Tejana writer from Austin, Texas. Amescua is most known for her poetry chapbooks, "Windchimes" and "What Remains." She won Lee and Low's Award Honor (2016) for her picture book manuscript in verse originally titled: Luz Jiménez, No Ordinary Girl.{{Cite web |date=2017-01-23 |title=Lee & Low Announces 2016 New Voices Award Winner {{!}} Lee & Low Books |url=https://www.leeandlow.com/writers-illustrators/new-voices-award/2016-new-voices-award-winner |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121193705/https://www.leeandlow.com/writers-illustrators/new-voices-award/2016-new-voices-award-winner |archive-date=2018-11-21 |access-date=2024-03-19 |website=Lee & Low Books}} Her most recent book is Child of the Flower-Song People: Luz Jiménez, Daughter of the Nahua, a picture book illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh and published by Abrams Books for Young Readers in 2021.{{Cite book|url=https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/child-of-the-flower-song-people_9781419740206/|title = Child of the Flower-Song People Luz Jiménez, Daughter of the Nahua| isbn=978-1-4197-4020-6 | last1=Amescua | first1=Gloria | date=April 16, 2024 | publisher=Abrams Books for Young Readers }}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eT0CswEACAAJ|title=Entre Guadalupe y Malinche: Tejanas in Literature and Art|first1=Inés|last1=Hernández-Ávila|first2=Norma Elia|last2=Cantú|date=February 23, 2016|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=9781477308363|access-date=March 10, 2017|via=Google Books}}
Early life and education
Amescua was born in Austin, Texas.{{Citation needed|date=May 2017}} Her father was born in Michoacán, Mexico.{{Cite web|url=http://www.kwelijournal.org/poetry-1/2014/9/8/ancestral-migration-by-gloria-amescua|title=Ancestral Migration by Gloria Amescua|website=KWELI / Truth From the Diaspora's Boldest Voices|date=December 23, 2010 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-15}} Her mother was Mexican-American. She has dedicated poems to her mother, including "Fall into the Fig," which appeared in Entre Guadalupe y Malinche: Tejanas in Literature and Art.
Amescua received her B.A. and Masters of Education from University of Texas at Austin, and began her career as an English teacher.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}
Career
Amescua became a high school assistant principal and the Secondary Language Arts Curriculum Director for a school district in Texas. In 2013, she won the Austin International Poetry Festival Contest, the Austin Poetry Society Award, and the Christina Sergeyevna Award for poetry.{{cite web |date=February 17, 2017 |title=Success Story Spotlight with Gloria Amescua – Writing Barn |url=http://www.thewritingbarn.com/success-story-spotlight-gloria-amescua/ |access-date=March 10, 2017 |work=thewritingbarn.com}} She was chosen to receive the 2016 Lee and Low New Voices Award Honor for her poetry manuscript, Luz Jiménez, No Ordinary Girl. She is an inaugural member of CantoMundo, a national Latinx poetry community.{{Cite web |title=CantoMundo {{!}} Gloria Amescua |url=https://www.cantomundo.org/teams/gloria-amescua |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923113440/https://www.cantomundo.org/teams/gloria-amescua |archive-date=2023-09-23 |access-date=2024-03-19 |website=CantoMundo |language=en}} Additionally, she is a member of the Austin, Texas chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators,{{Cite web |last=Vane |first=Sharyn |date=2021-08-15 |title=Austin writer Gloria Amescua on how Luz Jiménez's life inspired her picture book |url=https://www.statesman.com/story/entertainment/2021/08/15/kids-picture-books-austin-authors-gloria-amescua-lindsay-leslie-don-tate-hit-shelves/8112015002/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917222204/https://www.statesman.com/story/entertainment/2021/08/15/kids-picture-books-austin-authors-gloria-amescua-lindsay-leslie-don-tate-hit-shelves/8112015002/ |archive-date=2021-09-17 |access-date=2024-03-19 |website=Austin American-Statesman |language=en-US}} and an alumna of Hedgebrook's Writers-in-Residence program.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}
Her most recent book, Child of the Flower-Song People: Luz Jiménez, Daughter of the Nahua, features a Nahua woman who overcomes various cultural obstacles through her experience as a teacher and art muse in Mexico.{{cite web |title=Texas: Austin – Gloria Amescua's original manuscript under a different title was chosen for LEE & LOW BOOKS 2016 New Voices Award Honor |url=https://austin.scbwi.org//2017/01/25/gloria-amescua-chosen-for-lee-low-books-new-voices-award/ |access-date=March 10, 2017 |work=scbwi.org}} In 2022, it received three International Latino Book Awards: Alda Flor Ada Best Latino Focused Children’s Picture Book Award – English (Gold); Best Educational Children’s Picture Book – English (Gold); and Most Inspirational Children’s Picture Book – English (Bronze).{{Cite web |last= |date=2022-08-25 |title=The 24th International Latino Book Awards Winners! |url=https://latinosinkidlit.com/2022/08/25/the-24th-international-latino-book-awards-winners/ |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220825201621/https://latinosinkidlit.com/2022/08/25/the-24th-international-latino-book-awards-winners/ |archive-date=2022-08-25 |access-date=2024-03-19 |website=Latinxs in Kid Lit |language=en}} It was also named as a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection,{{Cite web |date=2022-01-24 |title=2022 ALA YMA Award Winners {{!}} Junior Library Guild Awards |url=https://www.juniorlibraryguild.com/blog/post/2022-ala-yma-award-winners |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240319120646/https://www.juniorlibraryguild.com/blog/post/2022-ala-yma-award-winners |archive-date=2024-03-19 |access-date=2024-03-19 |website=www.juniorlibraryguild.com |language=en}} a 2021 School Library Journal Best Books for Nonfiction,{{Cite web |last1=Annico |first1=Alyssa |last2=Bilton |first2=Karen |last3=Bussen |first3=Abby |last4=Fakih |first4=Kimberly |last5=Kingrey-Edwards |first5=Kelly |last6=Lanni |first6=Mary |last7=Mastrull |first7=Amanda |last8=Scott |first8=John |last9=Simmons |first9=Florence |date=2021-11-20 |title=Best Nonfiction 2021 {{!}} SLJ Best Books |url=https://www.slj.com/story/best-nonfiction-2021-slj-best-books |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524181726/https://www.slj.com/story/best-nonfiction-2021-slj-best-books |archive-date=2022-05-24 |access-date=2024-03-19 |website=School Library Journal |language=en}} a 2022 Pura Belpré Children's Author Award Honor Book, a 2022 SCBWI Golden Kite finalist for Nonfiction Text for Younger Readers,{{Cite web |last=SLB Staff |date=2022-03-18 |title=SCBWI Announces 2022 Golden Kite Awards |url=https://www.slj.com/story/SCBWI-announces-2022-golden-kite-awards |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220325093154/https://www.slj.com/story/SCBWI-announces-2022-golden-kite-awards |archive-date=2022-03-25 |access-date=2024-03-18 |website=School Library Journal |language=en}} and a 2023 Rise: Feminist Book Project Top Ten.{{Cite web |last=risefeministbooksadmin |date=2023-01-17 |title=2023: Rise: A Feminist Book Project Top Ten |url=https://risefeministbooks.wordpress.com/2023/01/17/2023-rise-a-feminist-book-project-top-ten/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120084504/https://risefeministbooks.wordpress.com/2023/01/17/2023-rise-a-feminist-book-project-top-ten/ |archive-date=2023-01-20 |access-date=2024-03-19 |website=Rise: A Feminist Book Project for Ages 0-18 |language=en}}
As of 2017 she has been a workshop presenter for youth and adults in Austin, Texas.
Publications
Amescua's work has appeared in several publications:
- Acentos Review (2012);
- Texas Poetry Calendar (2013);
- di-verse-city (2000-2016);
- Kweli Journal (2014);
- Generations Literary Journal (2011);
- Texas Poetry Calendar (2013-2016);
- Pilgrimage Magazine (2014);
- Lifting the Sky Southwestern Haiku & Haiga (2010);
- Bearing the Mask: Southwestern Persona Poems (2016);
- The Crafty Poet II: A Portable Workshop (2016);
- Entre Guadalupe y Malinche: Tejanas in Literature and Art (2016)
Bibliography
{{Incomplete list|date=March 2024}}
- Child of the Flower-Song People: Luz Jiménez, Daughter of the Nahua (Abrams, 2021)
References
{{Reflist}}
Sources
- Hernández-Ávila, Inés, and Norma Elia Cantú, eds. Entre Guadalupe Y Malinche: Tejanas in Literature and Art. Austin: U of Texas, 2016. Print.
- "Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators The International Professional Organization for Writers and Illustrators of Children's Literature." SCBWI Texas-Austin. N.p., 2017. Web. March 9, 2017.
- "Success Story Spotlight with Gloria Amescua." Writing Barn. N.p., February 17, 2017. Web. March 9, 2017.
External links
- [https://herkindsite.wordpress.com/tag/gloria-amescua/ “Beyond the Ban to Name the Beast: a Conversation with CantoMundo Founders and Fellows:”]
- “[http://www.kwelijournal.org/poetry-1/2014/9/8/ancestral-migration-by-gloria-amescua Ancestral Migration]” by Gloria Amescua
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Category:Writers from Austin, Texas
Category:American writers of Mexican descent
Category:21st-century American poets
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:University of Texas at Austin College of Education alumni