David Bowles (author)

David Bowles (born 1970) is an American critic, translator and author.

Life and career

David Bowles was born to residents of the Rio Grande Valley of Texas in 1970. Raised in an ethnically diverse family with Latino roots, he was hooked on dark folktales at an early age by his grandmother Marie Garza, the family storyteller.

Those stories got him interested in reading at an early age, setting him on a path to become an English teacher. During his third year in the classroom, he returned to the folktales of his childhood to encourage Mexican-American students who struggled to read. His retelling of the stories for middle-schoolers led to his first book, The Seed.

Bowles' research into border legends has been featured on Monsters and Mysteries in America in the eighth episode of season two: "Winged Beasts: Flying Humanoid, Jersey Devil, Batsquatch."

In addition to folklore, Bowles has translated poetry from Nahuatl, Yucatec Mayan, Spanish and Japanese, which have appeared in journals such as Rattle, Translation Review, and Metamorphosis: A Journal of Literary Translation. His original poetry has been featured in Concho River Review, The Thing Itself, BorderSenses and Huizache, among other venues.

Bowles also writes speculative fiction. He has had stories published in Strange HORIZONS and Apex Magazine and is currently writing a YA fantasy series called Garza Twins that features Latino protagonists and Mesoamerican mythology.

Bowles resides with his wife and children in Donna, Texas. He has been the book reviewer for regional newspaper The Monitor since 2012. Holding a Master's in English and a doctorate in Education, he is director of the bilingual program at the Donna Independent School District and teaches courses in the educational leadership Department Of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

Awards and honors

• Flower, Song, Dance: Aztec and Mayan Poetry: awarded the Texas Institute of Letters' 2014 Soeurette Diehl Fraser Award for Best Translation.
• TOP SHELF Book Review Column: received a 2014 Texas Associated Press Managing Editors' Headliners Excellence in Journalism Award for Comment and Criticism.
• The Smoking Mirror was selected as a Pura Belpré Honor Book in 2016 by the American Library Association.

Works

AS AUTHOR

• Ghosts of the Rio Grande Valley. Charleston: The History Press, forthcoming in 2016.
• A Kingdom Beneath the Waves (Garza Twins #2). Melbourne: IFWG Publishing, forthcoming in 2016.
• Border Lore: Folktales and Legends of South Texas. Beaumont, TX: Lamar University Press, 2015.
• The Smoking Mirror (Garza Twins #1). Melbourne: IFWG Publishing, 2015.
• Strange Texas Tales That Never Die (Volumes 1-4). Killeen, TX: Overlooked Books, 2014.
• Shattering and Bricolage. Dallas, TX: Ink Brush Press, 2014.
• Creature Feature: 13 Frightening Folktales of the Rio Grande Valley. McAllen, TX: AIM Media Texas, 2013.
• Flower, Song, Dance: Aztec and Mayan Poetry. Beaumont, TX: Lamar University Press, 2013.
• Mexican Bestiary. Donna, TX: VAO Publishing, 2012.
• The Seed: Stories from the River's Edge. Spring, TX: Absey & Co., 2011.

AS EDITOR

• Along the River (Volumes 1-3). Series editor. Donna, TX: VAO Publishing, 2011-2014.
• Donna Hooks Fletcher: Life and Writings. Donna, TX: VAO Publishing, 2012.
• Stories That Must Not Die. Series editor. San Antonio: National Educational Systems, 2012-2013.

AS CONTRIBUTOR

• ¡Juventud! Growing up on the Border. René Saldaña, Jr. and Erika Garza-Johnson, editors. Donna, TX: VAO Publishing, 2013.
• Goodbye, Mexico: Poems of Remembrance. Sarah Cortez, editor. Huntsville, TX: Texas Review Press, 2015.