Jasminne Mendez is a Dominican-American poet, playwright, translator and award winning author of several books for children and adults. She is the author of two hybrid memoirs, Island of Dreams (Floricanto Press) and Night-Blooming Jasmin(n)e: Personal Essays and Poetry (Arte Público Press). Her second YA memoir, Islands Apart: Becoming Dominican American (Arte Público Press) is forthcoming in May 2022 and her debut poetry collection, City Without Altar, was a finalist for the Noemi Press Book Award for Poetry and will be released in August 2022. Her debut picture book Josefina’s Habichuelas (Arte Público Press), was released last year. Jasmine is the translator of Amanda Gorman’s picture book La canción del cambio: Himno para niños, the Spanish edition of Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem.

Mendez has had poetry and essays published by or forthcoming in numerous journals and anthologies including The Kenyon Review, New England Review, the YA Latinx Anthology Wild Tongues Can’t be Tamed edited by Saraciea Fennell (Flatiron/Macmillan), and in The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext (Haymarket Books). She has translated and written poetry and a libretto for the Houston Grand Opera and the dramatized version of her play in verse City Without Altar will receive its world premiere at Milagro theatre in Portland, Oregon in spring 2022. She is an MFA graduate of the creative writing program at the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University, a University of Houston alumni, and a Canto Mundo Fellow. Based in Houston, she is the co-founder and program director of the Latinx literary arts organization Tintero Projects and co-host of Inkwell, a poetry and writing podcast series. Visit Jasminne online www.jasminnemendez.com or visit her on Instagram/Twitter @jasminnemendez

For more information, or to order books, please visit: https://kindredstorieshtx.com/collections/author-talks/products/irl-author-reading-islands-apart-becoming-dominican-american-september-17-7-pm-cst