Acevedo was raised in Harlem, New York City, by Dominican immigrant parents.[1] She is the youngest child and only daughter.[7]
By the age of 12, Acevedo decided she wanted to be a rapper, but later realized she really wanted to perform poetry. She attended The Beacon School, where she met English teacher Abby Lublin.[8] Lublin recruited Acevedo to join her after-school poetry club to further improve her work.[8]
She went to church every Sunday with her mother and participated in every sacrament.[10] Acevedo does not practice Catholicism anymore, but still considers her relationship with her religion to be developing.[11] She questions the teaching of religion; her book With the Fire on High is influenced by the fact that religion is empowering but "sometimes makes women and young girls question themselves."[11]
Acevedo began her career teaching eighth grade in Prince George's County, Maryland. While coaxing a student to read more, the student said she was not reading because "these books aren't about us."[11] Acevedo realized her students were affected by the lack of diversity in their books and not by their capabilities.[11] She then bought books that her students could relate to, and realized that she had the power to write such books too.[11]
Following graduation from George Washington University, Acevedo went into the classroom as a 2010 Teach for America Corps participant. She continued on to teach eighth grade English in Prince George's County, Maryland.[13] Although the school's population was 78 percent Latino and 20 percent black, she was the first Latino teacher to teach a core subject.[13]
She is a previous National Slam Champion, as well as former head coach for the D.C. Youth Slam Team.[14] She has performed at Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, South Africa's State Theatre, Bozar in Brussels, and the National Library of Kosovo. She has also delivered several TED Talks, and her masterful poetry videos have been featured in Latina magazine, Cosmopolitan, HuffPost, and Upworthy.
She is also the author of three young adult novels. Beastgirl and Other Origin Myths was published in 2016 and was a finalist for YesYes Chapbook Prize.[14] Her first novel, The Poet X, was published in 2018. With the Fire on High is Acevedo's third novel, released in May 2019.[15] Her fourth, Clap When You Land, was published in May 2020. It is about two sisters who grow up unaware of each other while living in different countries, but learn of each other after their father dies.[16] The book was a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book.
She also works as a visiting instructor at an adjudicated youth center in Washington, D.C., where she works with incarcerated women and with teenagers.[3]
Personal life
Acevedo is of Afro-Latina ethnicity.[12][1] Although raised Catholic, she no longer practices the religion.[18] She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, Shakir Cannon-Moye.[9][19] Acevedo grew up in a conservative and devout household of Catholicism.[20]
The Poet X is a New York Times Bestseller.[21] The book highlights the struggles of growing up as a Latina girl dealing with her sexuality and religion, and finding her own voice. Kirkus Reviews describes Poet X as "Poignant and real; beautiful and intense".[22]
Cleyvis Natera's review of Poet X for Aster(ix) Journal relates to the main character, Xiomara. Natera writes that Poet X is relatable to teenage girls dealing with their first love and strict parents that just don't understand, and who are finding themselves or growing into the person that they're meant to be. She urges its readers to buy the book.[23]
