Juan Felipe Herrera facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Juan Felipe Herrera
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Juan Felipe Herrera at the University of California, Washington Center, April 24,
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| Born | December 27, 1948 Fowler, California, U.S. |
| Language | English; Spanish |
| Education | University of California, Los Angeles (BA) Stanford University (MA) University of Iowa (MFA) |
| Genre | Poetry |
| Literary movement | Chicano |
| Partner | Margarita Robles |
Juan Felipe Herrera (born on December 27, 1948) is an American poet, writer, and activist. He was the 21st United States Poet Laureate from 2015 to 2017. This means he was chosen as a special poet for the whole country. He is an important figure in Chicano poetry, which is poetry written by people of Mexican American heritage.
Herrera's childhood as the son of migrant farm workers deeply influenced his writing. For example, his children's book Calling the Doves won an award in 1997. Community and art have always been important to Herrera. In the 1970s, he directed the Centro Cultural de la Raza. This was an old water tank in Balboa Park that became an art space for the community.
Herrera has published many books. These include fourteen collections of poetry, prose, short stories, young adult novels, and picture books for children. His 2007 book 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can't Cross the Border explores ideas about identity for people living near the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2008, Herrera won the National Book Critics Circle Award for his poetry collection Half the World in Light. In 2012, he was named California Poet Laureate by Governor Jerry Brown.
In 2015, Herrera became the first Chicano or Latino poet laureate for the United States. In 2016, he received an honorary doctorate from Oregon State University. In 2022, a new school, Juan Felipe Herrera Elementary School, opened in Fresno Unified School District.
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Early Life and Education
Juan Felipe Herrera was born in 1948. His parents, María de la Luz Quintana and Felipe Emilio Herrera, were farm workers. This meant Juan Felipe grew up moving often. He lived in different tents and trailers as his family followed the crops in the San Joaquín Valley and the Salinas Valley.
He graduated from San Diego High School in 1967. He then received a scholarship to attend the University of California, Los Angeles. There, he earned his bachelor's degree in Social Anthropology. Later, he earned his master's degree from Stanford University. He also received a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from the University of Iowa.
Herrera taught at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1990. He also led the Chicano and Latin American Studies Department at California State University, Fresno. In 2005, he joined the creative writing department at University of California, Riverside. He also became the director of the Art and Barbara Culver Center for the Arts in Riverside. Today, Herrera lives in Redlands, California, with his partner, Margarita Robles. She is also a performance artist and poet. He has five children.
Influences on His Work
Herrera's experiences as a campesino (farm worker) greatly shaped his writing. Moving through the San Joaquín Valley, San Diego's Logan Heights, and San Francisco's Mission District gave him many ideas. These different parts of California became sources of inspiration for him.
Growing up in the 1960s and attending college in the 1970s was also important. This was during the Chicano Movement and a time of new writing styles. Writers like Luis Valdez and Allen Ginsberg inspired Herrera. This period of artistic experimentation influenced his style. He often challenges the usual ways of writing, mixing different styles and forms.
Herrera often writes about social issues. He is known for crossing borders in his writing. Critic Stephanie Burt praised Herrera for creating a "new hybrid art." This art combines oral traditions, written words, English, and other languages. It is rooted in ethnic identity and community pride, but also shows his unique individual voice.
Community Arts Projects
Herrera has received awards to teach poetry, art, and performance in many places. He taught at community art galleries like the Galería de la Raza in San Francisco in the 1980s. He also helped create community art and literature posters in San Diego. He even taught poetry in prisons from 1987 to 1988. Currently, he works with community colleges and schools in Riverside County and the Coachella Valley.
After becoming California’s Poet Laureate in 2012, Herrera started a special project. It's called the i-Promise Joanna/Yo te Prometo Joanna Project. This project is about stopping bullying. It was named after Joanna, an elementary school girl who was bullied and died. The project asks students to write poems about how bullying affects people. It also encourages them to take action to prevent bullying. Herrera hopes to publish these poems in a book someday.
Awards and Fellowships
Juan Felipe Herrera has received many honors for his work:
- Americas Award
- 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry for Half the World in Light
- 2009 PEN/Beyond Margins Award
- 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship
- Breadloaf Fellowship in Poetry
- California Arts Council grants (awarded four times)
- Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choice
- Focal Award
- Ezra Jack Keats Award, for Calling the Doves
- Hungry Mind Award of Distinction
- Independent Publisher Book Award
- IRA Teacher’s Choice
- Latino Hall of Fame Poetry Awards (twice awarded)
- Los Angeles Times Book Award Nomination
- National Endowment for the Arts Writers’ Fellowship Awards (twice awarded)
- New York Public Library Outstanding Book for High School Students Award
- Pura Belpré Honors Award
- Smithsonian Children’s Book of the Year Award
- Stanford Chicano Fellows Fellowship
- Texas Blue Bonnet Nomination
- UC Berkeley Regent's Fellowship
- 2017 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award
- 2021 Los Angeles Review of Books/UC Riverside Creative Writing Lifetime Achievement Award
- 2023 Frost Medal
- 2024 MacArthur Fellow
Film, Stage, and Music Projects
Herrera has been involved in many creative projects beyond books. He created "The Twin Tower Songs," a performance in the San Joaquin Valley. This show remembered the September 11, 2001, attacks. He also writes poetry for the PBS television series American Family.
His musical, The Upside Down Boy, was popular in New York City. It was produced by Making Books Sing. Juan Felipe Herrera wrote the lyrics, and Cristian Amigo wrote the music.
In 2015, Herrera was inducted as the U.S. Poet Laureate. On that day, he worked with the Chicago-Mexican son band Sones de Mexico. They wrote a song together called "Corrida de Sandra Bland" in Spanish. This song honored Sandra Bland, a woman who died in police custody in Texas. Sones de Mexico performed the song the next day.
In 2016, LightBox Theatre Company created a play based on Herrera's children's books. The play, The Super Cilantro Girl, was performed in Turlock, California. It was based on "The Upside Down Boy," "Calling the Doves," and "Super Cilantro Girl."
Theater Groups He Founded
Juan Felipe Herrera has started several performance groups over the years:
- Teatro Tolteca (UCLA, 1971) – This was a theater group that used jazz, spoken-word, and movement.
- TROKA (Bay Area, 1983) – A group focused on percussion and spoken word.
- Teatro Zapata (Fresno, Ca., 1990) – A student community theater.
- Manikrudo: Raw Essence (Fresno, Ca., 1993) – A diverse performance art group and workshop.
- Teatro Ambulante de Salud/The Traveling Health Theatre (2003, Fresno, Ca.) – This group performed for migrant communities in the San Joaquin Valley.
- Verbal Coliseum – A Spoken Word Ensemble (UC Riverside, 2006).
His experimental play, "Prison Journal," was featured at the University of Iowa Playwright’s Festival in 1990.
