Margarita Engle

1. Margarita Engle Valerie Quadrini

2. “Write from the heart. Don’t worry about getting published. That comes later.” TomásRivera

3. Meet Margarita Engle • She is a Cuban American poet and author • Most of Engle's stories are written in verse and are a reflection of her Cuban heritage • She has written many award-winning books for children, young adults and adults • She became the first Latino awarded a Newbery Honor in 2009 for The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom • Many of her books are based on historical figures that Engle feels are important but not well known • She lives in Central California,where she enjoys helping her husband with his volunteer work for wilderness search and rescue dog training programs

4. Early Life • Margarita Engle was born in Pasadena, California on September 2, 1951 • Engle's father was born in Los Angeles, California and her mother in Trinidad, Cuba • Her parents met when her father visited Cuba. Although they did not speak the same language, her parents fell in love and married • As a child, Engle was introduced to poetry in Spanish, particularly the works of Jose Martí • Engle describes her child self as “a shy bookworm with glasses, a long braid, a broken tooth, and homemade mother-daughter clothes” • As a child, Engle loved plants and animals, especially horses, and wrote poetry • Engle spent many summers with her extended family in Cuba and grew very close • to them • Her favorite books as a child were The Black Stallion and Island of the Blue Dolphins • After she read Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart at age ten, she began to read adult fiction and poetry from various cultures

5. Career • In her mothers hometown of Trinidad, Engle developed a passion for tropical nature, which led her to study agronomy and botany • Engle earned a: • B.S. from California State Polytechnic University in 1974 • M.S. from Iowa State Universityin 1977 • Doctoral degree in biology from the University of California, Riverside in 1983 • Before starting her writing career, Engle was a tenured professor of agronomy at California Polytechnic University. While completing her doctoral degree, she took a seminar in creative writing with Tomás Rivera, who she credits with igniting her passion for writing

6. Writing Process • Engle says she is often “haunted” by an idea. She wrote her first verse novel, “The Poet Slave of Cuba,” because she felt haunted by the life of Juan Francisco Manzano. She felt he was very courageous for teaching himself to read and write when slaves were not allowed to be literate and deserved to be better known. Once she began to write in free verse, she was able to write more freely. “It was as if he’d reached down from heaven and reminded me that he was a poet, and that his own autobiographical notes were about his youth” • Engle researches her historical topics before she writes about them. After she researches topics she creates an outline. She keeps writing from different perspectives until she finds the one that seems natural. She then works on revising her stories, which she feels is the hardest part. Each time she finishes a draft, she tries to read it as if she has never seen it before. Often, after this process, she will keep portions then re-write other parts completely • Her favorite part of the writing process is working with a pen and paper and starting on the drafts. This is when she can let her ideas and words flow freely • She likes to write in a quiet environment, without distractions and in the morning • Engle looks at visual images if she gets stuck while writing. Seeing a photograph of a person or a landscape can help spark ideas or inspirations

7. Influences • While Engle mostly writes in English, she also writes in Spanish. In general, she writes in English for long projects, and in Spanish for shorter ones. She feels more comfortable writing in English, but reads poetry in Spanish every day. She loves to read, and feels it is important to read in both languages • Engle is influenced by Karen Hesse’s novels and verse. Latin American Poets Octavio Paz, Jorge Luis Borges, José Martí and Rubén Darío have also influenced her work.Antonio Machado, Dulce MaríaLoynáz and Mary Oliver are some of her favorite poets • Engle writes in verse and prose.Critics have said her prose was “too poetic.” When she wanted to write for younger readers, she switched to verse because she loved poetry during my childhood and teen years. She loves to write in verse because she feels it creates an intimacy between author and reader. “When you show someone a poem you’ve written, you’re giving them a glimpse of your heart and soul” • Engle’s mother’s love of books was an inspiration. She always supported Engle’s childhood efforts to write poetry, took her to the library and read to her in two languages

8. Inspirations • “The Wild Book” was inspired by stories Engle’s grandmother told about her childhood in Cuba • “Mountain Dog” was inspired by Engle’s husband’s volunteer work training wilderness search and rescue dogs to rescue lost hikers in California’s Sierra Nevada forests • Engle wrote “When You Wander” after she saw the fear of lost children who had wandered away from a campground • “Tiny Rabbit’s BIG WISH” is a re-told Cuban folktale that Engle wants to use to encourage self-acceptance • “Enchanted Air” is a memoir

9. Recurring Themes • Perseverance • Equality • Family • Hope • Courage • Compassion

10. What Makes Engle Unique • Engle writes about powerful female historical figures such as Fredrika Bremer in The Firefly Letters and Rosa la Bayamesa in Surrender Tree • She became the first Latino awarded a Newbery Honor in 2009 for The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom • She writes and publishes in both Spanish and English • It takes her roughly two years to write a novel: one year to research and one year to write • She considers TomásRivera, her creative writing professor, to big her biggest mentor • Many ideas that haven’t made it into a book are kept as “tiny seeds” in Engles head until she can write about them. The Firefly Letters grew from research for The Poet Slave of Cuba, and The Sky Painter branched off of research for Silver People

11. Awards TROPICAL SECRETS, Holocaust Refugees in Cuba New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing ALA Best Books for Young Adults Nominee California Teachers Association Recommended Book THE FIREFLY LETTERS, A Suffragette’s Journey to Cuba 2011 Pura Belpré Medal Honor International Reading Association Notable Book for a Global Society NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Book SUMMER BIRDS, The Butterflies of Maria Merian Kirkus Best Books for Children NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Book Amelia Bloomer Book HURRICANE DANCERS, The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck 2012 Pura Belpré Author Honor ALSC 2012 Notable Children's Book for older readers ALA Best Books for Young Adults nominee Poetry for Children Blog's Top 20 Most Distinctive Books of Poetry 2011 THE POET SLAVE OF CUBA • 2008 Pura Belpré Medal winner • International Reading Association Teachers’ Choice • ALA Best Books for Young Adults • NCTE Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts THE SURRENDER TREE • 2009 Newbery Honor • 2009 Pura Belpré Medal winner • AméricasAward • Jane Addams Award • Claudia Lewis Poetry Award • Lee Bennett Hopkins Honor • ALA Best Books for Young Adults • ALA Notable Book DRUM DREAM GIRL • 2016 Charlotte Zolotov Award ENCHANTED AIR: TWO CULTURES, TWO WINGS: A MEMOIR • 2016 Pura Belpré Author Award

12. Bibliography • Carpenter, S. September 2015. 20 questions: An interview with Margarita Engle. Retrieved from: http://www.toasted-cheese.com/absolute-blank/15-09/ • Margarita Engle (1951-). (2012). In L. Kumar (Ed.), Something About the Author (Vol. 231, pp. 62-65). Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=boon41269&v=2.1&id=CQMNHM118961785&it=r&asid=79e33799bbf986105c338e4552569afa • Something About the Author. (2009). L. Kumar (Ed.), Vol. 193. Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=boon41269&v=2.1&it=aboutJournal&id=GALE|2LPM • TeachingBooks.net (n.d.) Margarita Engle. Retrieved from https://0-www.teachingbooks.net.wncln.wncln.org/tb.cgi?aid=6584&s=n • Yareview.net. April 2014. Interview with Margarita Engle. Retrieved from http://yareview.net/2014/04/interview-with-margarita-engle/