Puerto Rican American novelist, poet, and essayist. Born in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico, Cofer spent much of her childhood traveling between her Puerto Rican home and Paterson, New Jersey. Educated at Augusta College, Florida Atlantic University, and Oxford University, Cofer is currently a professor of English and creative writing at the University of Georgia. Silent Dancing (1990) reflects her ongoing efforts to explore her bicultural and bilingual roots as a member of what she calls the Puerto Rican diaspora. Her other books include The Latin Deli: Prose and Poetry (1995), Woman in Front of the Sun: On Becoming a Writer (2000), The Meaning of Consuelo (2003), the young adult novel Call Me Maria (2006), and A Love Story Beginning in Spanish: Poems (2005). See also judithortizcofer.english.uga.edu.