Poets & Writers
Published on Poets & Writers (https://www.pw.org)

Home > Daniel García Ordaz

Daniel García Ordaz [1]

Listed as: 
Poet
Public address: 
McAllen, TX
Texas US
Email: 
poetmariachi@gmail.com
Bio: 

TEDx Speaker Daniel García Ordaz, a.k.a. The Poet Mariachi, served as the 2023 McAllen Poet Laureate and will continue in this honorary post in 2024-2025. His work has been taught and written about by academics across the U.S. and abroad and he is a 2018 Pushcart Prize nominee. García earned an MFA in Creative Writing, a terminal degree, from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He is also a high school English teacher and part of the dual enrollment faculty at South Texas College. García  is a songwriter, former journalist, photographicationisticator, and word-maker-upper. García appears in the documentary, "ALTAR: Cruzando fronteras/Building bridges." He is the founder of the Rio Grande Valley Int'l. Poetry Festival. García served in the U.S. Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. His individual book titles include the #1 bestseller books You Know What I'm Sayin'? and Cenzontle/Mockingbird: Songs of Empowerment (and its YA version), as well his latest bestseller, Read Until You Bleed: Funny and Thoughtful Poems For Funny and Thoughtful Children, a children's book. García's work has appeared in several journals and anthologies.

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
In which languages are you fluent?: 
English
Spanish
Favorite authors: 
Lloyd Alexander Langston Hughes Maya Angelou Gloria E. Anzaldúa Walter Wangerin, Jr. Pablo Neruda Walt Whitman Robert Frost Zora Neale Hurston Alice Walker Virginia Woolf
Twitter/X: 
poetmariachi
Born in: 
Houston, TX
Texas
Raised in: 
Mission, TX
Texas
RSS feed: 
https://poetmariachi.wixsite.com/blog [2]
Website: 
https://www.amazon.com/Daniel-Garc%25C3%… [3]
Prizes won: 

2023 and 2024-2025 McAllen Poet Laureate, City of McAllen, Texas

6th Honorable Mention, National Federation of State Poetry Societies Contest, Annual Convention: “She/Her” (2021)

Artist of the Month, Art Spark Texas (October 2020)

3rd Place, Texas Intercollegiate Press Association Division 1 Spanish Feature Story: "Romeo y Julieta y Que?" (2017)

Winner, Maya Angelou Essay Contest, The University of Texas-Pan American (2011)

Education: 
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Identifies as: 
American
Hispanic
Latino/Latina/Latinx
Mexican
Prefers to work with: 
Adults
At Risk Youth
Children
Naturalists/Environmentalists
Teachers
Teenagers
Veterans

Source URL:https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/daniel_garcia_ordaz

Links
[1] https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/daniel_garcia_ordaz [2] https://poetmariachi.wixsite.com/blog [3] https://www.amazon.com/Daniel-Garc%C3%ADa-Ordaz/e/B00JGE4PMK