Guadalupe Garcia McCall


Guadalupe Garcia McCall is an award-winning author, poet, and educator. She was born in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico. She is the recipient of the 2012 Pura Belpré Medal for narrative.

Early life

Guadalupe Garcia McCall was born in Coauhila, a Mexican state adjacent to Texas. She immigrated to the United States with her family when she was six years old, and grew up in Eagle Pass, a small border town in South Texas. When McCall was 17 years old, “she lost her mother to cancer and found solace in her writing and in her education".

Career

She holds a B.A. in Theatre and English from Sul Ross State University in Alpine and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Texas at El Paso. McCall currently serves as an Assistant Professor of English at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon. Her first novel, Under the Mesquite, debuted in October 2011 and received the prestigious Pura Belpré Medal for narrative in 2012. She has written three more young adult novels in addition to many stories and poems that have been published in periodicals. Garcia McCall has been called "a leading voice in Chicana and Latina children’s and young adult literature".

Awards

''Under the Mesquite''

2012 Pura Belpré Medal for narrative
2013 Tomás Rivera Book Award
2012 Americas Award, Consortium of Latin American Studies Program – Honorable Mention
2012 International Latino Book Award – Honorable Mention

''Summer of the Mariposas''

2013 Westchester Young Adult Fiction Award – Winner
2013 Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Finalist
2013 Amelia Bloomer Project List