Bio:

Pick up any book by Diane Gonzales Bertrand and it is obvious her family and the city of San Antonio are the heart songs of her literature. Diane began writing poetry and fiction in fifth grade while she was a student at Little Flower School, a Catholic school on San Antonio’s west side. After graduation from UTSA in 1979, Bertrand taught middle school and high school. She started writing for publication in 1989 and received her master’s degree from Our Lady of the Lake University. There she was inspired and encouraged to share Mexican-American themes in her poetry and wrote the stories about Latino families she couldn’t find in local libraries.

The past fifteen years she has been publishing literature for children and teens through Arte Publico Press in Houston, Texas. She combined her love of poetry with storytelling fun in her popular children’s bilingual picture books Sip, Slurp, Soup, Soup/Caldo, caldo, caldo, The Empanadas that Abuela Made and The Party for Papá Luis.

Her novels include Sweet Fifteen (1995), Alicia’s Treasure (1996); Trino’s Choice (1999), and its sequel, Trino’s Time (2001). Two bilingual chapter books, Upside Down and Backwards and Ruiz Street Kids/Los Muchachos de la Calle Ruiz have earned recognition and praise from Texas Writers League and The Tejas Star Reading Lists. Her new novel for teens is The F Factor, which earned positive reviews from School Library Journal, San Antonio Express-News, and Today’s Catholic newspaper.

A book with Raven Tree Press, My Pal Victor, earned the ALA Schneider Family Book Award from the American Library Association, and her second Raven Tree picture book, The Park Our Town Built will be published in June 2011.

Diane is Writer-in-Residence at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas, where she teaches creative writing and English composition. As an author, she enjoys visiting schools and libraries to promote writing and to remind everyone to turn off their televisions or computers and pick up a book instead.

Her books are listed at www.artepublicopress.com and www.raventreepress.com. To schedule a school visit, contact her at dbertrand@stmarytx.edu





Writer
PAL
Member since 1995
Region: Texas: Southwest

Contact Information

Published In Children's Market: Yes
Available for Speaking Engagements? Yes