Daniel García Ordaz

TEDx Speaker and Pushcart Prize nominee, author Daniel García Ordaz is the 2023 and 2024/25 McAllen Poet Laureate. García Ordaz, a.k.a. The Poet Mariachi, teaches high school and college courses. He is the founder of the Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival. He is the author of a middle grades book, Read Until You Bleed, (El Zarape Press, 2023) as well as the #1 bestseller books You Know What I’m Sayin’? (El Zarape Press, 2006) and Cenzontle/Mockingbird: Songs of Empowerment (FlowerSong Books, 2018) as well as the Young Adult Cenzontle/Mockingbird (YA Edition): Songs of Empowerment (El Zarape Press, 2018). His short ebook, Pet Names, also achieved #1 bestseller status. His writing focuses is on celebrating the power of language. In April 2017, García Ordaz defended his thesis, Cenzontle/Mockingbird: Empowerment Through Mimicry, to complete his terminal degree, an MFA in Creative Writing from The University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley. Over the years, he has edited several books and anthologies, such as Twenty: In Memoriam, a response by poets across the U.S. to the Sandy Hook shootings. García is an established voice in American, Mexican American, Chicano, and Latino poetry. His poems have appeared in numerous literary journals, academic collections, and anthologies. He was born in Houston in 1971 and raised in Mission, Texas. His publishing experience includes editing and book cover design credits. García also a song-writer, former newspaper journalist, photographicationisticator, and word-maker-upper. He appears in the documentary, “ALTAR: Cruzando fronteras/Building bridges" itself an altar offering to the late Chicana scholar and artist Gloria E. Anzaldúa, one of his great influences for this collection. García was one of five authors and the only poet chosen to participate in the Texas Latino Voices project in 2009 by the Texas Center For The Book, the state affiliate of the Library of Congress. He has been a featured reader and guest at numerous literary events, including the Texas Book Festival, Dallas International Book Fair, McAllen Book Festival, Texas Library Association events, TAIR, TABE, and Border Book Bash, among others. García also served in the U.S. Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from The University of Texas-Pan American and an MFA in Creative Writing from UTRGV. He lives in the Rio Grande Valley of deep South Texas with his wife, Gina, and their children and he continues to teach write, sing, and spend time in front of a crowd as often as he can. García Ordaz is listed in Poets & Writers. See videos of him on YouTube and follow him at poetmariachi.