About

Born in New York City, Patricia Dubrava lived there until third grade when her family moved to Florida and a succession of east coast towns: Ft. Pierce, Daytona, Holly Hill, Hollywood, West Palm Beach, and finally Vero Beach. By the time she reached 8th grade, she’d attended 13 schools. Maybe that’s why, after a stint in California, when she settled in Denver, Colorado in 1967, she stayed.

Dubrava earned a B.A. in English from the University of Florida and an M.A. in English with emphasis on teaching writing from the University of Colorado at Denver. She taught both secondary English and Spanish at Denver School of the Arts, and ended her career there as chair of the Creative Writing program in 2010. Dubrava twice received outstanding teacher awards, as well as an Excellent award for the literary magazine she sponsored.  She currently teaches literary translation and other courses in the University of Denver’s Professional Creative Writing master’s program. Dubrava has published two books of poems and one of stories translated from the Spanish. (See books.)

Her writing interests include literary translation from Spanish and creative nonfiction, although she is not likely to stop writing poems. Current writing projects include the “Holding the Light” blog, which contains short personal essays on education, writing, translation, her neighborhood and memoir; translating short stories by contemporary Mexican authors and working on a collection of poems.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she has also been translating Ukrainian soldier stories in collaboration with the author, Anton Filatov. Some of these were published, 2023:

https://www.asymptotejournal.com/nonfiction/anton-filatov-finding-myself-at-war/

Poems, essays and translations have appeared in numerous anthologies, including These Are Not Sweet Girls: Poetry by Latin American Women; New Border Voices: An Anthology; and Norton’s Flash Fiction International.

Recent publications in journals include Reunion: The Dallas Review, Café Irreal, Aldus Journal of Translation, Fiction Attic, Mexico City Lit, K1N and Exchanges. Her humor piece on writing appeared in ejournal Talking Writing, a creative nonfiction piece on teaching in Hippocampus and a memoir in Talking Writing.

List/Links to recent publications:

Four prose poems from the Grandmother series, Dash Literary Journal, Vol. 12, California State University, Spring, 2019

Finalist, Gabo Prize, Summer/Fall 2017:  www.http://lunchticket.org/sunday/

http://www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/translations/ a story by Agustín Cadena, published July 25, 2017

Winter 2016 issue, published in January, 2017, a story by Mónica Lavín: https://catamaranliteraryreader.com/

Cadena Translation in Exchanges, May, 2016 

The first four of these Agustín Cadena stories, posted April, 2016 by Mexico City Lit: Mexico City Lit: Five Stories by Agustin Cadena, with Photos

A short story by Mónica Lavín in Issue 8 of K1N for April, 2016: The Caretaker

A creative nonfiction article on teaching in the December, 2013 issue of Hippocampus Magazine:  Triage Teacher

Short Story “The Sinking Hearts Society” by Agustín Cadena, Winter 2013 aldusjournal.com

Two Flash Fictions at Cafe Irreal

In Translation: The Death of Pirate // La Muerte del Pirata

 

Three of my poems about Mexico, translated into Spanish by Agustín Cadena, April, 2018

https://www.larecoleta.digital/mexico-en-la-poesia-de-dubrava/

My translated story by Mónica Lavín:

https://www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/2018/04/24/translation-tuesday-english-lessons-by-monica-lavin/

Two prose poems by Agustín Cadena and a review in Cigar City Poetry Journal, January 2019

Excerpts from Yo, la peor, a novel by Mónica Lavín: http://intranslation.brooklynrail.org/spanish/from-the-novel-i-the-worst-of-women

Short story by Agustín Cadena translation:

Patricia Dubrava translates Agustín Cadena

2020 ALTA translation slam panel and readings