Gwendolyn Zepeda

Gwendolyn Zepeda (born December 27, 1971 in Houston, Texas) 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 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.
Writing
In June 1997, Zepeda started an online journal titled Gwen's Trailer Trash Page, which eventually evolved into 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 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, Alice Munro, Louise Gluck, Jane Austen, 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.
See also
History of Mexican Americans in Houston
Poet Laureates of Texas
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 "Quinceaneras come in new flavors now'," "The Latina Voz."
Martin, Betty L. "Houston artists inspired by MECA to perform at 30th anniversary event" "Houston Chronicle" September 14, 2007
Mellen, Kim "Diva of the Doublewide" "Austin Chronicle," August 4, 2000.
Nuestra Palabra "National Sor Juana Festival: A Tribute to Mexican Women" Presentation at Museum of Fine Arts Houston, March 22–April 29, 2007
Ruiz, Loida "Skirt! profile: Gwendolyn Zepeda". January 1, 2009
Zepeda, Gwendolyn "The Quinceañera I Was Too Poor to Have". "The Latina Voz"
Zepeda, Gwendolyn "Car Wash" recap on Television Without Pity
Zepeda, Gwendolyn Interview with Eric Ladau of KUHF.
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