Gwendolyn Zepeda (born December 27, 1971, in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

) is an American author and poet of Mexican American descent. Zepeda is Houston's first Poet Laureate, serving a two-year term from 2013 to 2015. She was succeeded by Leslie Contreras Schwartz.

History

Zepeda's father was

Mexican American Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexico, Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the Unite ...

and her mother was a white American of German, Scottish, and Welsh ancestry. She was born and raised in Houston, Texas where she attended Dow and Roosevelt elementary schools, Hamilton Middle School, Reagan High School (now Heights High School), and the High School for Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA). She subsequently attended the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

Writing

In June 1997, Zepeda started an online journal titled ''Gwen's Trailer Trash Page'', which eventually evolved int
Gwen's Petty, Judgmental, Evil Thoughts
Around the same time, she became a founding writer for Television Without Pity, a recap blog for late 1990s television shows, such as Ally McBeal and 7th Heaven. She is notable as one of the first bloggers to write and sell a book. She later blogged for the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...

'' in 2009 and 2010. Zepeda sold her first book, '' To the Last Man I Slept with and All the Jerks Just Like Him'', a short story collection, in 2000. It was published by the Houston-based Latino publishing house, Arte Público Press, in 2004. Her first novel, ''Houston, We Have a Problema'' is a chick lit novel and was published by Grand Central Publishing January 2009. Her first picture book, ''Growing Up with Tamales'', was published by Piñata Books, an imprint of Arte Público Press, in May 2008. It is a 2009 Charlotte Zolotow Highly Commended Title and was nominated for a Tejas Star Award. Piñata Books published her second picture book, ''Sunflowers'', in May 2009. Arte Público Press published her first book of poetry, ''Falling in Love with Fellow Prisoners,'' in 2014. She cites Sandra Cisneros,

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and an inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight chi ...

, Alice Munro, Louise Gluck,

Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...

, Ursula K. LeGuin, and Judy Blume as some of her writing influences.

Bibliography

Short story collections

* ''To the Last Man I Slept with and All the Jerks Just Like Him''. Houston, Texas : Arte Público Press, 2004. ()

Novels

* ''Houston, We Have a Problema''. New York : Grand Central Publishing, 2009. * ''Lone Star Legend''. New York : Grand Central Publishing, 2010. * ''Better With You Here''. New York : Grand Central Publishing, 2012.

Poetry

* ''Falling in Love with Fellow Prisoners: Poems''. Houston, Texas : Arte Público Press, 2013. * ''Monsters, Zombies and Addicts: Poems''. Houston, Texas : Arte Público Press, 2015.

Children's books

* ''Growing Up with Tamales''. Houston, Texas : Arte Público Press, 2008. * ''Sunflowers''. Houston, Texas : Arte Público Press, 2009. * ''I Kick the Ball''. Houston, Texas : Arte Público Press, 2010. * ''Level Up''. Houston, Texas : Arte Público Press, 2012. * ''Maya and Annie on Saturdays and Sundays''. Houston, Texas : Arte Público Press, 2018.

Anthologies

* ''Houston Noir''. New York : Akashic Books, 2019.

References

External links

Author Gwendolyn Zepeda speaks at Houston Community College
(2007 podcast reading) * * Galehouse, Maggie
"Houston appoints its own poet laureate."
''Houston Chronicle,'' 11 April 2013. * García Navarro, Lulu
"Poems for Houston."
''NPR,'' 3 Sept. 2017. * * Kolker, Claudia "The Latina Voz." * Martin, Betty L

"Houston Chronicle" September 14, 2007 * Mellen, Ki
"Diva of the Doublewide"
"Austin Chronicle," August 4, 2000. * Nuestra Palabr
"National Sor Juana Festival: A Tribute to Mexican Women"
Presentation at Museum of Fine Arts Houston, March 22–April 29, 2007 * Ruiz, Loid
"Skirt! profile: Gwendolyn Zepeda"
. January 1, 2009 * Zepeda, Gwendolyn . "The Latina Voz" * Zepeda, Gwendolyn on Television Without Pity * Zepeda, Gwendoly
Interview with Eric Ladau of KUHF.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zepeda, Gwendolyn 1971 births American women novelists American chick lit writers Hispanic and Latino American novelists Writers from Houston Novelists from Texas American writers of Mexican descent American women short story writers 20th-century American novelists Living people 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American women Municipal poets laureate in the United States