Jasminne Mendez
Jasminne Mendez is a best-selling Dominican-American poet, translator, playwright and award winning author of several books for children and adults. Including the middle grade novel in verse Aniana del Mar Jumps In (Dial). Her debut picture book Josefina’s Habichuelas (Arte Publico Press, 2021) was the Writer’s League of Texas Children’s Book Discovery Prize Winner. She is an MFA graduate of the creative writing program at the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University and a University of Houston alumni. She is the Program Director for the literary arts non-profit Tintero Projects and she lives and works in Houston, TX.
From an Interview with Andreina Rodriguez with Dominican Writer's Association:
In memoir writing, you have to excavate and reflect on moments of your life that are not pretty. What was it like for you to unearth some of these memories?
"I think some of them were harder than others. That piece about my aunt and the stillborn baby was definitely difficult and harrowing and very challenging, because I still vividly remember the Polaroid picture of my stillborn baby cousin, Nicholas. Now as a mother, too, it's even more gripping to me to think about what she went through.
I've always said the real writing is in revision, and in revising. That's when you find what is anchoring these pieces down. What is at the heart of it? What am I really trying to say? In so many of these pieces, I would have to stop halfway because I'm crying or having these really emotional responses after I'm done writing. Or I would revise one day and then be totally drained and moody for like a week. It wasn't until I started really paying attention to that that I realized it's the writing that's causing these very emotional responses, and learning how to take care of myself in the process."
Recommended Books for Aspiring Writers
From an Interview with Andreina Rodriguez with Dominican Writer's Association:
In memoir writing, you have to excavate and reflect on moments of your life that are not pretty. What was it like for you to unearth some of these memories?
"I think some of them were harder than others. That piece about my aunt and the stillborn baby was definitely difficult and harrowing and very challenging, because I still vividly remember the Polaroid picture of my stillborn baby cousin, Nicholas. Now as a mother, too, it's even more gripping to me to think about what she went through.
I've always said the real writing is in revision, and in revising. That's when you find what is anchoring these pieces down. What is at the heart of it? What am I really trying to say? In so many of these pieces, I would have to stop halfway because I'm crying or having these really emotional responses after I'm done writing. Or I would revise one day and then be totally drained and moody for like a week. It wasn't until I started really paying attention to that that I realized it's the writing that's causing these very emotional responses, and learning how to take care of myself in the process."
Recommended Books for Aspiring Writers
- Tell It Slant by Brenda Miller
- Rose Metal Press Field Guide (all of them in this series are excellent!)