Novelist,
short story writer and poet who is often known as the father of Chicano
(Mexican-American) literature, Rudolfo Anaya was born on October 30,
1937, in Pastura, New Mexico, United States; the son of Martin (a
laborer) and Rafaelita (Mares) Anaya.
Anaya
received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of New
Mexico in 1963, and a Master of Arts degree in English from the same
university in 1968. From 1963 to 1970, Anaya was a public school
teacher in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 1971 he became director of
counseling at the University of Albuquerque, Albuquerque, New Mexico, a
post he held until 1973.
In
the meantime, Anaya was developing his craft as a creative writer. His
first novel, Bless Me, Ultima (1972), received wide critical praise, and
has since become a classic of Hispanic American literature. It won the
Premio Quinto Sol, the national Chicano literary award.
Anaya
followed this success with two more novels. The first was Heart of
Aztlan (1976), about a Chicano family that moves from a rural community
to the city. Tortuga (1979), Anaya's third novel, concerns a young boy
who must undergo therapy for his paralysis and wear a body cast. Taken
together, these three novels make up a trilogy about Mexican-American
life in the post-World War II era.
Anaya
published another novel, The Legend of La Llorona in 1984. In the 1990s
his main creative output consisted of four novels: Albuquerque (1992) in
which a young boxer, Abran Gonzalez, embarks on a quest for his real
father in Albuquerque. This novel won the PEN Center West Award for
Fiction. Anaya followed this with the trilogy about detective Sonny
Baca, Zia Summer (1995), Rio Grande Fall (1996), and Shaman Winter
(1999).
Anaya
has also published collections of short stories, The Silence of the
Llano (1982) and My Land Sings: Stories from the Rio Grande (1999). He
has edited collections of poetry including Voces: An Anthology of Nuevo
Mexicano Writers (1987), as well as writing several nonfiction books,
including Lord of the Dawn: The Legend of Quetzacoatl (1987).
Anaya
became associate professor of English at the University of New Mexico,
Albuquerque, in 1974. He was appointed full professor in 1988, a
position he still holds today.
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