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Juan Felipe Herrera

フアン・フェリペ・ヘレラ

Juan Felipe Herrera

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1948-12-27 （Fowler, California, U.S.）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English, Spanish
Residence History
Childhood: moved throughout the San Joaquín Valley and Salinas Valley as a migrant farmworker family → Redlands, California, U.S. (current residence)

Career

Occupations
poet, performer, writer, cartoonist, teacher, activist
Active Years
1970-
Affiliations
California State University, Fresno (former chair, Chicano and Latin American Studies), University of California, Riverside (Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair, Creative Writing), Academy of American Poets (chancellor), Before Columbus American Book Awards Foundation (board member), California Council for the Humanities (board member)
Memberships
Academy of American Poets (chancellor), Before Columbus American Book Awards Foundation (board member), California Council for the Humanities (board member)
Influenced By
Luis Valdez, Allen Ginsberg, Beat poets, Chicano Movement
Influenced
Contemporary Chicano and Latino poets and writers

Education

University of California, Los Angeles
Social Anthropology
Degree: BA
Country: United States
Attended on an Educational Opportunity Program scholarship
Stanford University
Social Anthropology (MA)
Degree: MA
Country: United States
Received master's degree
University of Iowa
Creative Writing (MFA)
Degree: MFA
Country: United States
MFA in creative writing; served as a distinguished teaching fellow at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop in 1990

Awards

United States Poet Laureate
2015
Organization: Library of Congress (appointed)
Result: 任命（在任：2015–2017）
National Book Critics Circle Award (Poetry)
2008
Work: Half the World in Light
Category: 詩
Organization: National Book Critics Circle
Result: 受賞
Ezra Jack Keats Book Award
1997
Work: Calling the Doves
Category: 児童文学
Organization: Ezra Jack Keats Foundation
Result: 受賞
PEN/Beyond Margins Award
2009
Organization: PEN America
Result: 受賞
Guggenheim Fellowship
2010
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: 受賞（フェローシップ）
California Poet Laureate
2012
Organization: Office of the Governor of California (appointed)
Result: 任命
PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award
2017
Organization: PEN Oakland
Result: 受賞
Frost Medal
2023
Organization: Poetry Society of America
Result: 受賞
MacArthur Fellow
2024
Organization: MacArthur Fellows Program
Result: 受賞 (フェロー)
Los Angeles Review of Books/UC Riverside Creative Writing Lifetime Achievement Award
2021
Organization: Los Angeles Review of Books / UC Riverside
Result: 受賞（生涯功労）

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

187 Reasons Mexicanos Can't Cross the Border: Undocuments 1971-2007

2007 Poetry / Bilingual

A collection of bilingual texts examining borderlands, identity, and cultural hybridity between the U.S. and Mexico.

bordermigrationidentitycultural hybridity

Half the World in Light

2008 Poetry

A poetry collection blending personal and communal histories with experimental and visual elements. Winner of the 2008 NBCC Award in Poetry.

memorycommunityimmigrant experience

Calling the Doves

1995 Children's book (bilingual)

A bilingual children's book about migration, community and family bonds, presented in gentle verse and images. Winner of the Ezra Jack Keats Award (1997).

familycommunitymigration

CrashBoomLove: A Novel in Verse

1999 Novel in verse

A long-form narrative presented in poetic form, emphasizing wordplay, rhythm, and experimental techniques.

wordplayidentity

The Upside Down Boy / El Nino de Cabeza

2000 Children's literature

A children's story later adapted as a musical and staged in New York and elsewhere.

childrenimaginationidentity
Adaptations
  • [Theatre (musical)] The Upside Down Boy (stage musical)

Every Day We Get More Illegal

2020 Poetry

A poetry collection addressing recent political and social climates, focusing on immigration policy and exclusion.

politicsmigrationsocial justice

Bibliography

  • Rebozos of Love
  • Exiles of Desire
  • Facegames
  • Calling the Doves / Canto a Las Palomas
  • CrashBoomLove: A Novel in Verse
  • Half the World in Light
  • 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can't Cross the Border: Undocuments 1971-2007
  • Every Day We Get More Illegal

Adaptations

  • Stage musical adaptation of The Upside Down Boy
  • The Super Cilantro Girl play based on three children's books

Translations of Works

  • Some works published bilingually in English and Spanish

Style & Themes

Literary Style
hybrid style crossing English and Spanishoral/performative elements combined with visual/experimental poetry
Recurring Motifs
borders and movementmemories of farm labor and workcommunity and familyidentity formation

Legacy

A leading figure in Chicano poetry, he was the nation's first Chicano/Latino U.S. Poet Laureate; his work and community-focused projects have had significant impact in academia and grassroots arts, promoting poetry education and community engagement.

Museums

  • Juan Felipe Herrera Elementary School (named in his honor) Fresno Unified School District, Fresno, California, U.S. Opened in 2022

Academic Societies

  • Academy of American Poets

Archives

  • Library of Congress: recorded materials from 2015 induction and archive

In Popular Culture

  • Adaptations into plays and musicals (e.g., The Upside Down Boy)

Quotes

  • "There is one constant in the past three decades in Chicano literature and his name is Juan Felipe Herrera."
    Source: Ilan Stavans (essay/criticism)
  • "He successfully created a new hybrid art, part oral, part written, part English, part something else: an art grounded in ethnic identity, fueled by collective pride, yet irreducibly individual too."
    Source: Stephanie Burt (New York Times review) (2008)

Trivia

  • Named U.S. Poet Laureate in 2015 — the first Chicano/Latino to hold the post.
  • Awarded an honorary doctorate from Oregon State University in 2016.
  • Juan Felipe Herrera Elementary School opened in Fresno in 2022.
  • Lives in Redlands with partner Margarita Robles and has five children.