Maria Aponte

Mari Aponte is a poet, performance artist, and playwright. Born and raised in New York City’s East Harlem (El Barrio), she has worked
extensively in Latino theatre and in video productions that deal with racial discrimination and women’s rights. Maria’s one-woman show, “Lágrimas de mis madres,” is a biography about the women in her family. She also wrote and performed “I Will Not Be Silenced,” based on the life of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexico’s first feminist poet and playwright. In April 2010, Maria received the Vagina Warrior Award, a special recognition from the Eve Ensler Organization for “someone who has suffered or witnessed violence, grieved it, transformed it, and then does extraordinary work to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else in their community.” Maria currently works at Fordham University and lives in the Bronx with her husband, Bobby Gonzalez, a multicultural lecturer, storyteller and poet.