Mother Tongue

Author Bio: Demetria Martínez

Demetria Martínez is an author, activist, journalist and creativity coach. Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she now resides, she earned her BA from Princeton University in 1982. She is an activist on several fronts, including work with the Jardines Institute which is committed to food justice and sustainable farming in economically disadvantaged communities. In 2011, she was honored with the Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature. Her autobiographical essays, Confessions of a Berlitz-Tape Chicana, won the 2006 International Latino Book Award in the category of best biography. Her widely translated novel, Mother Tongue, winner of a Western States Book Award for Fiction, is based in part upon Martinez’s 1988 trial for conspiracy against the United States government in connection with allegedly transporting Salvadoran refugees into the country, a charge that with others carried a twenty-five-year prison sentence. A religion reporter at the time covering the faith-based Sanctuary Movement, she was found not guilty on First Amendment grounds. She also co-authored a children’s book, Grandpa’s Magic Tortilla, with Rosalee Montoya-Read, which received the Young Reader’s Book Award in 2011 from the New Mexico Book Awards.