Pat Mora

As a young girl growing up in El Paso, Texas, Pat Mora felt as though she belonged to two worlds - the American culture of Texas and the Latino culture of Mexico. When her parents gave her a typewriter as an 8th-grade graduation gift, Mora started expressing her feelings through poetry. She would go on to become the Chicana voice of the Southwest, telling stories about the desert and the Latino people who are forced to straddle two cultures. Mora has also turned her talents toward authoring storybooks for young readers, in which she teaches valuable lessons about being different, the importance of reading, familial love, and the power of young girls to excel and be leaders. This compelling new biography offers valuable insight into the life and writing of an exceptional author who has become an important voice for multiculturalism in the American literary scene.