Jasminne Mendez is a Pura Belpré Honor award author and best-selling Dominican-American poet, educator, translator, and playwright of several books for children and adults. Born and raised all over the country due to her father’s military service, She is the daughter of immigrants and considers herself an Afro-Latina of The South since she was raised an Army brat and grew up “everywhere.”
Her children’s and young adult books have won numerous awards and accolades and been featured on local news outlets, radio shows, podcasts and newspapers across the country including the Houston Chronicle, Houston Public Radio, The Big Bend Sentinel, Telemundo Houston and others. Her debut middle grade novel in verse Aniana del Mar Jumps In (Dial) was featured on the New York Public Library, Chicago Public Library and the Kirkus Reviews 2023 “Best of Books” list and received a Pura Belpré Honor award, an Americas Award Commended Title and an NCTE Notable Novel In Verse recognition. Her debut picture book Josefina’s Habichuelas (Arte Publico Press) received the Writer’s League of Texas Discovery Prize for best debut picture book in 2021. Her YA memoir Islands Apart: Becoming Dominican American (Arte Publico Press) was a 2023 Américas Award Commended Title and its companion title Island of Dreams (Floricanto Press) received an International Latino Book Award for Best Young Adult Latino Focused Book.
She has translated NYT Best Selling author Amanda Gorman’s best-selling picture books Change Sings (La canción del cambio) and Something, Someday (Algo, algún día), the best selling picture book The 1619 Project: Born on the Water (El proyecto 1619: Nacieron sobre el agua) by Nikole Hannah Jones and Reneé Watson and the Pura Belpré Award Winning graphic novel Frizzy (Rizos) by Eisner Award winners Claribel Ortega and Rose Bousamra.
In her work as an author for adult readers, she has had poetry and essays published in numerous journals and anthologies including The Acentos Review, The New England Review, Kenyon Review, Gulf Coast, and others. Her debut poetry collection City Without Altar (Noemi Press) won the 2022 Texas Institute of Letters best book of poetry award in 2023 and her memoir Night-Blooming Jasminne: Personal Essays and Poetry is used by university professors all across the country. Outside of the publishing world, her books City Without Altar and Aniana Del Mar Jumps In have been adapted for the stage and received grants, staged readings and developmental workshops from the National New Playwright’s Network, the Stages: Sin Muros Latinx Theatre Festival, Igenio New Play Development Festival and others.
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.
“Thank you for being here last Friday with Reading Rock Stars! The students were thrilled to meet and interact with you; your presentation was perfectly calibrated for our kids. I was so impressed by your command of the crowd and your proactive response to questions. Having an author visit for every student, and certainly the opportunity to go home with a new book, would be so far out of reach for our campus were it not for this amazing program, and the efforts of participating authors like you. I truly appreciate your time at our school and your investment in our students.” — Heather Stephens, Bilingual Librarian | bibliotecaria bilingüe, Walnut Creek Elementary School, 2023
