THE ESTATE OF JUDITH ORTIZ COFER

“Graceful, generous, and important.” — Mary Oliver

Judith Ortíz Cofer was born in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico, on February 24, 1952. She was raised on the island and in Paterson, New Jersey, before her family finally settled in Augusta, Georgia. Considered one of the preeminent voices of the Puerto Rican experience writing in English, Cofer received numerous honors and awards, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the University of Georgia Humanities Center, and the Florida Fine Arts Council, among others. Cofer was a teacher and professor her entire life; she taught at the University of Georgia from 1984 until her retirement in 2013. There, she was the Franklin Professor of English and Creative Writing.

Cofer published several poetry collections, including THE LATIN DELI: PROSE & POETRY, winner of the Anisfield Wolf Book Award, an award that “recognizes books that have made important contributions to our understanding of racism and human diversity”, as well as memoirs such as THE CRUEL COUNTRY, about her return to her native Puerto Rico after her mother had been diagnosed with late-stage lung cancer, a book which the University of Georgia would publish soon after Cofer herself was diagnosed with cancer. Cofer’s prose works extended to young adult books: AN ISLAND LIKE YOU: STORIES OF THE BARRIO won the ALA Reforma Pura Belpre Medal and THE MEANING OF CONSUELO was awarded the ALA Best Book for Young Adults in 2004. Notably, Cofer was the first Hispanic to win the O. Henry Award in 1994 for her short story, “Nada”, published in the Georgia Review.

She died in 2016 at the age of 64. The Judith Ortiz Cofer papers are with the University of Georgia and available for research at the Russell Special Collections Building.