Judith Ortiz Cofer was born in Puerto Rico and moved with her family to New Jersey when she was young. When Cofer speaks of writing, she often speaks of language and her identity as a Puerto Rican-American writer: "I know what I am. My Puerto Ricaness was not awarded to me. It can't be legislated out. Whether I write in English or Spanish, I am what I am–a woman who writes. I follow cuentos, memories, characters that take me back to moments of being in my life. I recreate scenes of my youth and transform them with my imagination." Ortiz is a writer of poetry, short stories, and a novel, The Line of the Sun. Her story "Nada" won the O. Henry Short Story Prize. Ortiz is also a teacher of literature and writing at the University of Georgia in Athens.