Nina Serrano facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Nina Serrano
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|---|---|
| Born | Weehawken, New Jersey |
| Alma mater | University of Wisconsin |
| Genres | poetry, plays, historical fiction |
| Spouses |
Paul Richards
(m. 1987) |
| Children | Valerie Landau, Greg Landau |
Nina Serrano, born in 1934, is an American poet, writer, and storyteller. She also produces independent media. She lives in Vallejo, California. Nina Serrano has written several books, including Heart Songs: The Collected Poems of Nina Serrano and Pass it on!: How to start your own senior storytelling program in the schools. Her poems are found in many collections, like Under the Fifth Sun: Latino Writers from California. She has also translated poems by Peruvian poet Adrian Arias.
Today, Nina leads storytelling workshops for older adults and in elementary schools through Stagebridge.org. She used to direct the Poetry in the Schools program in San Francisco. She also led the Storytellers in the Schools program in the Bay Area. Nina is a Latina activist who supports social justice, women's rights, and the arts.
Contents
Biography
Early Life and Creative Work
Nina Serrano was born in 1934 in Weehawken, New Jersey. She grew up in New York City, in neighborhoods with many different immigrant families. She studied theater and anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In the 1950s, she traveled with student groups to Soviet Russia and revolutionary China to promote peace.
While raising her family and teaching, Nina worked in theater, radio, and film. She helped create movies about important historical events in Cuba, Chile, and Nicaragua. In 1968, she met the poet Roque Dalton in Cuba. They wrote a TV show together, which was produced on Cuban television. This experience helped her become a writer.
After returning to San Francisco, Nina focused on journalism, playwriting, and poetry. These activities helped her grow as a writer who spoke out for important causes. She wrote articles about the Los Siete trial, a significant court case. Her poems were published in the San Francisco Good Times. In 1969, she joined Editorial Pocho Che, a group of Latino poets who published activist writings.
Nina wrote her first book of poetry, Heart Songs, during this time. It was published in 1980. Over the next thirty years, she published more books, including Heart's Journey: Selected Poems, 1980-1999 and Heart Strong: Selected Poems 2000-2012. Her work also appeared in many poetry anthologies, which are collections of poems by different writers. Through her friendships with Cuban poets, Nina started translating poetry. She translated works by Peruvian poet Adrian Arias. In 1982, she helped translate an important economic plan for Nicaragua. This plan was available in both Spanish and English.
In 1972, Nina joined Communicacion Aztlan. There, she wrote and produced radio programs for KPFA radio station. For the next 20 years, she continued her radio work. She also wrote and produced several plays for the stage. These included The Story of the Chicken Made of Rags, The Story of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, and Weavings. She also wrote and produced scripts for films. Some of these films were Que Hacer? (What is to Be Done?), Después del terremoto (After the Earthquake), and Back from Nicaragua.
Works
Poetry
- The Heart Suite Series
- Heart Songs: The Collected Poems of Nina Serrano (1969–1979)
- Heart's Journey: Selected Poems (1980–1999)
- Heart Strong: Selected Poems (2000–2012)
- Stop Monsanto!
- To Die of Joy in the River
- A Poem for You: Learning to See in Darkness
- On New Years Day Unicorns Fly
- A Poem for You: A Sudden Warm Day in Winter
- Love Passed Over Us Like a Cloud
- Traces of Love
- Poems in the Redwoods
- Poems in Balmy Alley
- Welcome Immigrant Children, Bienvenidos
- Tribute to Ralph Maradiaga
- A Winter Solstice Poem for You
- Women I Know
- I am So Visible
Films
- Que Hacer: What is to Be Done?
- Después del terremoto
- Back from Nicaragua
- La Cantata de Santa Marie de Iquique
Other Writings
- Education for Storytelling
- Assassinations of a Poet: Memories of Roque Dalton
- The Story of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
- The Story of the Chicken Made of Rags
- Program of Economic Reactivation for the Benefit of the People: 1980
- Nicaragua Way
Awards
Nina Serrano has won several international film awards. She received the XXXIII Mostra internazionale D'Arte Cinematografica award for Que Hacer: What is to Be Done?. She also won the Kraków, Poland International Film Festival award for After the Earthquake: Despues del terremoto.
In 2010, Oakland Magazine named Nina Serrano "Best Local Poet."
In 2024, she received an Adelle Foley Award from PEN Oakland. This award recognized her work as an author, radio host, and political activist.
Personal Life
Nina Serrano has served as an Arts Commissioner for Alameda County. She also used to be the director of San Francisco's Poetry in the Schools program. She helped start the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts in San Francisco's Mission District. She is still very involved with the center today.
Nina has been a producer of radio programs for a long time at Pacifica Radio station KPFA (94.1 FM) in Berkeley, California. She currently hosts La Raza Chronicles on Tuesdays. She also hosts Open Book twice a month. Her programs are also broadcast on KZCT in Vallejo.
Nina Serrano appeared in the video "Frida en El Espejo/Frida in the Mirror." This video was created by Adrian Arias with music by Greg Landau. It was shown at the SF Film Festival in April 2009.
