Nicholasa Mohr

This 1994 portrait of Nicholasa Mohr by Antonio Martorell hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

"One of the first Latina authors to be published by a major U.S. press, Nicholasa Mohr was born to Puerto Rican parents who moved to New York at the height of the Great Depression. In 1973 Mohr published her first novel, Nilda, about a young girl coming of age in New York City during World War II while her mother was raising a family of six. The New York Times selected it Outstanding Book of the Year, launching Mohr's literary career. Other works include the short story collection El Bronx Remembered (1975), the novel Felita (1979), and its sequel, Going Home (1986). Mohr's books center on the experience of growing up Puerto Rican in the United States and are populated with resilient char­acters who endure hardship, pushing ahead for a better life.

Here, Antonio Martorell's agile line captures Mohr's vivacious personality, while recognizing her stature as a pillar of Nuyorican (New York-Puerto Rican) literature." -- National Portrait Gallery