Pat Mora quotes:
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I will never know what it's like to have only one language in my head. I have the pleasure of being able to move back and forth between Spanish and English, and I incorporate both languages in my books.
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Teachers and librarians can be the most effective advocates for diversifying children's and young adult books. When I speak to publishers, they're going to expect me to say that I would love to see more books by Native American authors and African-American authors and Arab-American authors. But when a teacher or librarian says this to publishers, it can have a profound effect.
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I have a deep attachment to the natural world. It's a major influence on my writing, and as I look out over the wonderful snow-covered Santa Fe hills, I'm grateful for every day that I live here.
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When I'm writing poetry, 99.9% of my writing begins in English. I spent most of my life in English, although I am bilingual.
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I usually begin a poem in longhand. I like to sit where I have a nice view, ideally, although I worked on haiku this weekend at an airport. I'm not one to romanticize inspiration. I try to get to the work.
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I want children who feel embarrassed because they speak Spanish to realize that there are places where the beautiful Spanish they speak is an asset.
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Writers are always diverse on the inside.
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Your Texas is no different than my Texas.
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I became a good writer when I saw the age of forty coming at me
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I did realize, as do you, how blessed I was to know bookjoy, the private pleasure of savoring text.
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I often focus more on language than on the conveying of information.
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I write because I am curious. I am curious about me.
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If we're trying to excite young people about reading, we need to be experiencingbookjoy ourselves so that we have references to make. It's important to be able to say, "You know, I read the most wonderful poem the other day. Let me tell you about it."
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It is always a tense moment for an author to see how someone hasillustrated his or her story, because the author has lived for so long with these characters, sometimes for years.