Jasminne Mendez
Best-selling Dominican-American poet, translator, playwright and award-winning author of several books for children and adults.
Fields of expertise:
Jasminne Mendez is a 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 Belpre 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 also had the privilege of translating the work of NYT Best Selling authors Amanda Gorman, Nikole Hannah-Jones and Calribel Ortega.
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. Her YA fiction debut The Story of My Anger (Dial) will be out September 2025.
