Carmen Tafolla

Carmen Tafolla (born July 29, 1951) is an internationally acclaimed Chicana writer from San Antonio, Texas, and a professor emerita of bicultural bilingual studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Tafolla served as the poet laureate of San Antonio from 2012 to 2014, and was named the Poet Laureate of Texas for 2015–16. Tafolla has written more than thirty books, and won multiple literary awards. She is one of the most highly anthologized Chicana authors in the United States, with her work appearing in more than 300 anthologies. for 38 years until his death in 2017.

Academic career

Tafolla served as the Director of the Mexican-American Studies Center at Texas Lutheran College, Seguin from 1973 to 1976, and from 1978 to 1979. She has served as Associate Professor of Women’s Studies at California State University, Fresno, as Special Assistant to the President for Cultural Diversity Programming at Northern Arizona University, has taught at numerous universities throughout the Southwest, and is currently Professor Emerita of Bicultural Bilingual Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Poetry

Tafolla first drew the attention of the literary world as a poet, when she read some of her poetry at the Floricanto Festival in Austin, Texas in 1975. She published her first collection of poetry, Get Your Tortillas Together, with Reyes Cardenas and Cecilio Garcia-Camarillo the following year. Tafolla's poetry is heavily influenced by her ethnic background, and often focuses on Chicana characters, or on themes and images which are important to Chicano culture. Critics such as Yolanda Broyles-Gonzales have noted that Tafolla's female characters often display great inner strength, exhibiting what Broyles-Gonzales refers to as "an indomitable will to endure and survive" even in the most adverse situations. Américas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature (2010). Awarded by the Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs (CLASP) for What Can You DO with A Paleta? Tomás Rivera Mexican-American Award for Children’s Books (2010) - Awarded by the Texas State University College of Education for What Can You DO with a Paleta?