Deborah A. Miranda facts for kids

Deborah A. Miranda is an American writer, poet, and professor. She teaches English at Washington and Lee University. She is known for her powerful writing about Native American experiences.

Early Life and Education

When Deborah Miranda was young, her family went through some difficult times. Her father was away when she was three. Her mother then moved the family to Washington state. Growing up in a new place without her father, Deborah wondered about her own identity. She found that writing helped her understand her family's past.

Later, her parents began to reconnect with their tribal roots. Deborah is part of the Ohlone-Costanoan Esselen people. Many Native American groups in Southern California were forced to lose their cultural identity.

Deborah Miranda studied at Wheelock College. She focused on teaching children with special needs. After getting her first degree, she earned her master's and Ph.D. in English. She completed these at the University of Washington.

Career and Writing

Deborah Miranda became a professor of English. She teaches at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. There, she teaches creative writing. She also researches Native American culture.

In her studies, Miranda looks at how American literature has often ignored or misunderstood Indigenous cultures. She also explores how other groups, like Chicanos, African Americans, and Japanese Americans, are shown in literature.

In 2012, she received a special grant. This grant helped her research "The Hidden Stories of Isabel Meadows." In 2015, she won a PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award. This award recognized her important literary work.

Miranda also has a blog and Twitter account called BAD NDNS. On these, she shares her thoughts on life and poetry. She also writes about important historical topics.

Published Books

One of Deborah Miranda's most famous books is Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir (2013). In this book, she writes about the long history of the Esselen Nation. She also shares stories about other California Indians.

Her memoir includes her own family's experiences. It also features old news clippings and testimonies. These show the hardships faced by Native peoples over many decades. Through these old texts and her personal stories, Miranda explores the difficult history of Native communities in California.

She is also known for writing about "two-spirit" people. These are Native individuals who have traditional gender roles that are different from typical Western ideas. Her work helps bring these important histories to light.

Other major books by Deborah Miranda include:

• The Zen of La Llorona, published in 2005.
• Indian Cartography, published in 1999.
• Altar to Broken Things, published in 2020.
• Raised By Humans, published in 2015.

Poetry and Essays

Deborah Miranda's poetry is often included in collections of poems. She also writes scholarly articles. These articles discuss important topics like racism, colonialism, and identity. She also writes about how past events can affect future generations.

Some examples of her essays and poetry include:

• "Lunatic or Lover, Madman or Shaman: The Role of the Poet in Contemporary Culture(s)." This was in a 2018 anthology.
• "Tuolumne" was published in World Literature Today in May 2017.
• "What's Wrong with a Little Fantasy?" appeared in American Indian Quarterly.
• "A String of Textbooks" was in The Journal of Teaching Writing in 2000.
• "I Don't Speak the Language that has the Sentences" was an interview. It was published in Sojourner in 1999.
• "A Strong Woman Pursuing Her God" was about Linda Hogan's power. It was published in Sojourner in 2000.

Personal Life

Deborah Miranda is a descendant of "Mission Indians." These were Indigenous peoples from many Southern California tribes. They were forced to move to Spanish missions long ago.

She is a member of the Ohlone-Costanoan Esselen Nation. This group is working to gain official recognition. She describes her background as being from an Ohlone–Costanoan Esselen Nation father. He also had Santa Ynez Chumash tribal ancestry. Her mother was English, French, and Jewish from Beverly Hills.

Deborah Miranda is married to Margo Solod. They have two children, Miranda and Danny.

See also

In Spanish: Deborah Miranda para niños