Judith Ortiz Cofer is a Latina poet and prolific writer, born in
             Puerto Rico in 1952 and now residing in Athens, Georgia. She married
             Charles John Cofer in 1971, and has one daughter, Tanya. She immigrated to
             the United States with her parents in 1956, and they settled in New Jersey,
             where she had most of her early schooling. Cofer learned English to "help
             her Spanish speaking mother run the household and make important decisions"
             ("Hispanic Writers" 165), and came to love the language and its power
             ("Hispanic Writers" 165). In 1974, she received her B.A. in English from
             Augusta College, and in 1977 went on to receive her M.A. in English from
             Florida Atlantic University, then complete some graduate work at Oxford
             University (Editors). Cofer's background is in teaching, and that is where
             she began her career, and where she continues it today.
             Cofer wrote poetry at first and wrote extensively about the problems
             and paradoxes facing Latina women. She notes that her own world is firmly
             rooted in two distinct cultures. "I write in English," she muses, "yet I
             write obsessively about my Puerto Rican experience . . . . That is how my
             psyche works. I am a composite of two worlds" ("Hispanic Writers"). While
             Cofer grew up in the United States, she often returned to her grandmother's
             house in Puerto Rico with her mother, and so, she balances the Latina
             customs and culture of her youth with the culture of America, thus her
             feeling she is a composite. Cofer has taught at a variety of schools and
             universities, and she frequently travels to discuss her work and her
             culture. She also frequently teaches at writers' workshops. One
             biographer notes, "Her lectures frequently focus on diversity in American
             art and culture," (Abbe) a topic that emerges repeatedly in her poetry such
             as "Common Ground." Currently, she is a Franklin Professor of English and
             Creative Writing in the Department of ...