TEDx Speaker and Pushcart Prize nominee, author Daniel García Ordaz is the 2023 and 2024/25 McAllen Poet Laureate.

García Ordaz, a.k.a. The Poet Mariachi, teaches high school and college courses. He is the founder of the Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival.

Daniel García Ordaz is the author of a middle grades book, Read Until You Bleed, (El Zarape Press, 2023)

as well as the #1 bestseller books You Know What I’m Sayin’? (El Zarape Press, 2006) and Cenzontle/Mockingbird: Songs of Empowerment (FlowerSong Books, 2018)

as well as the Young Adult Cenzontle/Mockingbird (YA Edition): Songs of Empowerment (El Zarape Press, 2018).

His short ebook, Pet Names, also achieved #1 bestseller status.

His writing focuses is on celebrating the power of language.

In April 2017, García Ordaz defended his thesis, Cenzontle/Mockingbird: Empowerment Through Mimicry, to complete his terminal degree, an MFA in Creative Writing from The University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley.

Over the years, he has edited several books and anthologies, such as Twenty: In Memoriam, a response by poets across the U.S. to the Sandy Hook shootings.