Nylda Dieppa-Aldarondo

Alborada: A Cross-Cultural Memoir in Poetry (May 2023)
Otra Alborada: Wisdom Emerges With the New Dawn (TBD)

Poetry

​Nylda Dieppa is a speaker, author, facilitator, translator, and LBGTQ+ supporter and ally
enjoying life in Orlando, Florida. She has a Masters in Pastoral Studies from Loyola University, New Orleans as well as a degree in Fashion Design and postgraduate work towards a PhD in Intercultural Theology. A dedicated homemaker for thirty-eight years, Nylda has five children and six grandchildren.

Nylda did pro bono work for the Diocese of Orlando, Florida and participated on medical and leadership development mission trips to the Dominican Republic. The past leader of the Maitland Writers Group, an affiliate of Florida Writers Association, she currently sustains the group by editing and publishing the MSG Newsletter. Nylda’s work has been circulated in various publications including America magazine and The Florida Catholic.

She has read her poetry at various venues including the 9th and 10th Annual Winter Park Paint Outs at the Polasek Museum in Winter Park, Florida, at The Ear Club and other venues in New York City, and in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She was a regular contributor to the "Artist Spotlight" column of the College Park Community Newspaper.

Nylda was a catalyst, featured participant, and collaborator in the development of the award-winning documentary film Memories of a Penitent Heart, a sensitive and poetic exposition of how faith is utilized and distorted in difficult situations, and an instructive story about the family conflicts created by the AIDS epidemic that remain unresolved through generations. At present, Nylda is translating from Spanish, Maritza Pratt’s inspirational book To Survive! and serves on the board of the Florida Writers Foundation.

She is also the author of Alborada: A Poetic Memoir Across Cultures, an autobiographical
collection of narrative and lyrical poems crafted throughout her life. It won a Royal Palms
Award from the Florida Writers Association in 2015 and a 2016 International Latino Book
Award for its cover illustration inspired by Nylda’s original pastel drawing.

These days Nylda struggles with the idea of finishing or rewriting Amada, her 60,000-word
fictionalized memoir of her mother's life in Puerto Rico and Florida and/or working on Saligia, the story of her kidnapped and murdered brother. Or perhaps something a bit less difficult to contemplate!

You may contact Nylda or her cute mini goldendoodle, Nela, at nyldad@gmail.com, and listen to her Story Corps interview here. Or learn more at nyldadieppa.com and sign up for her newsletter, Word Sketeches, here.