The Puerto Rican Literature Project

Sandra Maria Esteves was born in 1948 in the Bronx, New York. She is of Puerto Rican and Dominican descent. Esteves is one of the founding members of the Nuyorican Poets Café (1973). She has directed collaborative programs for the New York City Board of Education, Teachers & Writers Collaborative, the Bronx Council on the Arts, the Caribbean Cultural Center, and El Museo del Barrio. Her works include DivaNations (a cappella, audio cd, 2010); Wildflowers (a cappella, audio cd, 2009); Portal (Limited Editions Press, 2007); Poems In Concert (Air Loom Publications, 2006); Finding Your Way, Poems for Young Folks (No Frills Publications, 1999); Contrapunto In the Open Field (No Frills Publications, 1998); Undelivered Love Poems (No Frills Publications, 1997); Bluestown Mockingbird Mambo (Arte Público Press, 1990); Tropical Rain: A Bilingual Downpour (African Caribbean Poetry Theater, 1984); and Yerba Buena (Greenfield Review Press, 1980). She has received various awards, including Pregones Theater/NEA Master Artist Award, 2010; the Con Tinta Award from the Acentos Poetry Collective, 2007; Poet Honoree from Universes Poetic Theater Ensemble Company, 2006; The Owen Vincent Dodson Memorial Award For Poetry from Blind Beggar Press, 2002; Arts Review Honoree from the Bronx Council on the Arts, 2001; The Edgar Allan Poe Literary Award from the Bronx Historical Society, 1992; and a Poetry Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts in 1985. 

Works Cited

Esteves, Sandra Maria. “Autobiography of a Nuyorican by Sandra Maria.” Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/150377/autobiography-of-a-nuyorican.

“History of the Nuyoricans Poets Café.” Nuyorican Poets Café, https://www.nuyorican.org/history-awards. 

“Sandra Maria Esteves.” Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/sandra-maria-esteves.