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About Demetria

Demetria Martinez 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 (U. of Oklahoma Press), won the 2006 International Latino Book Award in the category of best biography.

Her widely translated novel, Mother Tongue (Ballantine), 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 25-year prison sentence. A religion reporter at the time covering the faith-based Sanctuary Movement, she was found not guilty on First Amendment grounds.

Her books of poetry include Breathing Between The Lines and The Devil’s Workshop (The U. of Arizona Press). She also co-authored a children’s book, Grandpa’s Magic Tortilla, with Rosalee Montoya-Read (U. of New Mexico Press), which received the Young Reader’s Book Award in 2011 from New Mexico Book Awards.

The Block Captain’s Daughter, her first novella, was released in 2012 by the U. of Oklahoma Press.
 

“Being an activist is where I find meaning. Involvement with something larger than myself compels me to write.”