Our next TLA poet presenter was Guadalupe Garcia McCall whose first book for young people, Under the Mesquite, garnered several major kudos and awards last year.Guadalupe Garcia McCall was born in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico. Her family immigrated to the United States when she was six and she grew up in Eagle Pass, a small, border town in South Texas.
After high school, she moved to West Texas to study to become a teacher and earned her BA in Theatre Arts and English from Sul Ross State University. She met her husband there and they now have three grown sons. Her poems for adults have appeared in more than a dozen literary journals and her first work for young people is the novel in verse, Under the Mesquite published late last Fall.
Kirkus Reviews called Under the Mesquite, “A promising, deeply felt debut.”
School Library Journal described it as “stunning... rich... authentic” saying “Bravo to McCall for a beautiful first effort.”
And you might remember that it also happened to win the 2012 Pura Belpré Award. Not bad for a first book!
Here she reads an excerpt from Under the Mesquite.
Beautiful - and what a lovely voice she has. Thanks for sharing.
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