Judith Ortiz Cofer



Judith Ortiz Cofer (born in 1952) is a Puerto Rican author. Her work spans a range of literary genres including poetry, short stories, autobiography, essays, and Young-adult fiction.

Life
Judith Ortiz Cofer was born in [Hormigueros, Puerto Rico]] on February 24, 1952. She moved to Paterson, New Jersey with her family in 1956. They often made back-and-forth trips between Paterson and Hormigueros. In 1967, her family moved to Augusta, Georgia, where she attended Butler High School. Cofer received a B.A. in English from Augusta College, and later an M.A. in English from Florida Atlantic University.

Among Cofer's more well known essays are "The Story of My Body" and "The Myth of the Latin Woman," both reprinted in The Latin Deli.

In 1984, Cofer joined the faculty of the University of Georgia, where she is currently Franklin Professor of English and Creative Writing.

Writing
Ortiz Cofer's work can largely be classified as creative nonfiction. Her narrative le is strongly influenced by oral storytelling, which was inspired by her grandmother, an able storyteller in the tradition of teaching through storytelling among Puerto Rican women. Cofer's autobiographical work often focuses on her attempts at negotiating her life between two cultures, American and List of U.S. poetsture|Puerto Rican]], and how this process informs her sensibilities as a writer. Her work also explores such subjects as racism and sexism in American culture, machismo and female empowerment in Puerto Rican culture, and the challenges diasporic immigrants face in a new culture.

Recognition
In April 2010, Ortiz Cofer was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.

Publications

 * Peregrina (1986)
 * Terms of Survival (1987)
 * The Line of the Sun (1989)
 * A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood (1990)
 * The Latin Deli (1993)
 * Reaching for the Mainland and Selected New Poems (1995)
 * An Island Like You: Stories of the Barrio (1995)
 * Catch The Moon (1996)
 * The Year of Our Revolution (1998)
 * Sleeping with One Eye Open: Women Writers and the Art of Survival (1999)
 * Woman in Front of the Sun: On Becoming A Writer (2000)
 * The Meaning of Consuelo (2003)
 * Call Me Maria (2004)
 * American History
 * A Love Story Beginning in Spanish: Poems (2005)