The Chicano/Latino Literary Prize (56 page)

Margarita Luna Robles
resides in San Francisco, California, where she is a well-known poet and activist.

Jesús Rosales
was born in Durango, Mexico, but was raised in Santa Barbara, California. Rosales works as Professor of Spanish at Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi. He published academic writings including a booklength study on Alejandro Morales (1999), and has recently published several academic articles including “Fictional Testimony: Mr. Hank Tavera: el sembrador de palabras” in
Puentes: Revista méxico-chicana de literatura, cultura y arte
and “La frontera como falso refugio chicano, el caso de Oscar Zeta Acosta: The Brown Buffalo” in
Confluencia: Revista Hispánica de Cultura y Literatura
. Rosales resides in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Nedra Ruíz
lives in San Francisco, California. She has worked as a Criminal Law Attorney for twenty-five years.

Benjamín Alire Sáenz
was born in a small village on the outskirts of Las Cruces, New Mexico. He has published several novels including
The House of Forgetting
(1997)
, Elegies in Blue
(2002), and children's titles,
A Gift from Papa Diego
(1998) and
Grandma Fina and Her Wonderful Umbrellas
(1999). His first young adult novel,
Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood
(2004) won numerous citations and awards including The Americas Book Award, the Patterson Book Prize, and the J. Hunt Award. His most recent publications are entitled
In Perfect Light
(2005) and
Dreaming of the End of War
(2006), a book of poetry. He teaches in the Creative Writing Department at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Rosaura Sánchez
is Professor of Latin American Literature and Chicano Literature at the University of California, San Diego. She is the author of
Chicano Discourse: A Socio-Historic Perspective
(1983) and
Telling Identities: the Californio Testimonios
(1995). Sánchez is known for her work in Critical Theory, Gender Studies, and Third World Studies as well.

Patricia Santana
was born in San Diego, California. Santana's novel
Motorcycle Ride on the Sea of Tranquility
was listed in the 2003 Best Books by the American Library Services Award, the 2003 California Readers Collection, and the San Diego Magazine Best Fiction Award 2003. She currently works as a college Spanish instructor. Santana's recent work entitled
Ghosts of El Grullo
(2008) will be published by University of New Mexico Press. Santana resides in San Diego, California.

Gustavo Segade
is Professor of Spanish at San Diego State University. He is involved with the Border Institute for Advanced Nonlinear Studies, and has worked extensively as a translator. Recently, he translated
Permanent Works: Poems 1981-92
(1993) and
Woman on the Road
(1994) in conjunction with the Baja Literature Project.

Carmen Tafolla
travels throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Europe performing a dramatic medley based on excerpts from her poems and short stories. She is the author of five books of poetry, television screenplays, numerous children's stories, and a non-fiction work on racism, sexism, and Chicana women. Tafolla was awarded the Art of Peace Award in 1999 from St. Mary's University for writing that furthers peace, justice, and human understanding. Alex Halley, author of
Roots
, described Tafolla as “a worldclass writer.” Tafolla's recent books include
Baby Coyote and the Old Woman
(2000) and
Sonnets and Salsa
(2001).

Gloria Velásquez
was born in Johnstown, Colorado, but grew up in San Luis Obispo, California. She is Professor of Chicano Literature at California Polytechnic State University. Her publications include
I Used to Be a Superwoman
(1994),
Xicana on the Run
(2005), and
Tyrone's Betrayal
(2006)—the seventh novel in The Roosevelt High School Series. Her selection herewith will be part of her upcoming publication
Toy Soldiers and Dolls/Soldaditos y muñecas
. In 2001, Velásquez was honored by the Texas House of Representatives for her achievements as an author of
Voces Latinas: Hispanic Reading Series for Young Adults
in Dallas. Velásquez resides in San Luis Obispo, California.

Alma Luz Villanueva
was born in Lompoc, California, and was raised in the San Francisco area. She has held Writer-In-Residence positions at Cabrillo
College, the University of California at Irvine, Stanford University, San Francisco State College, and the University of California at Santa Cruz. She currently lives in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and teaches Creative Writing at Antioch University, Los Angeles. Her books of fiction include
Ultraviolet Sky
, winner of the 1989 American Book Award,
Naked Ladies
(1994), and
Weeping Women: La llorona and Other Stories
(1994). Her poetry titles include
Planet, with Mother May I
(1993),
Mother, May I?
(1978),
Blood Root
(1977),
La Chingada
(1985),
Life Span
(1984),
Desire
(1998),
Luna's California Poppies
(2002), and
Vida
(2002).

Liliana Valenzuela
was born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico. She is the poet of the collections
Bocas palabras
and
Mujer frontera, mujer malinche
. Valenzuela is the translator of
Caramelo
by Sandra Cisneros,
La conquista
by Yxta Maya Murray,
Latin Jazz
by Raúl Fernández, and
La yagüita del pastor
by Isaías Orozco-Lango.

Helena María Viramontes
was born in East Los Angeles, California. Recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, Viramontes has collaborated with María Herrera-Sobek on two anthologies,
Chicana Creativity and Criticism: Creative Frontiers in American Literature
(1988) and
Chicana Writers: On Word and Film
(1995). She wrote a screenplay
Paris Rats in E.L.A.
that has been produced by the American Film Institute. Viramontes wrote
The Moths and Other Stories
(1985),
Under the Feet of Jesus
(1995) and her latest novel,
Their Dogs Came with Them
(2007). Viramontes is Professor of English at Cornell University.

Silviana Wood
lives in Tucson, Arizona. She is the author of the winning play
And Where Was Pancho Villa When You Really Needed Him?
which was published in the anthology
Puro Teatro: A Latina Anthology
in 2000. She currently works as a bilingual actor, director, storyteller, and playwright.

T
HE
C
HICANO
/L
ATINO
L
ITERARY
P
RIZE
was first awarded by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of California, Irvine during the 1974-1975 academic year. In the quarter-century that has followed, this annual competition has clearly demonstrated the wealth and vibrancy of Hispanic creative writing to be found in the United States. Among the prize winners have been


to name a few among many such accomplished authors as Lucha Corpi, Graciela Lim n, Cherr e L. Moraga, Carlos Morton, Gary Soto, and Helena Mar a Viramontes. Specific literary forms are singled out for attention each year on a rotating basis, including the novel, the short-story collection, drama, and poetry; and first-, second-, and thir place prizes are awarded. For more information on the cano/Latino Literary Prize, please contact:


Contest Coordinator


Chicano/Latino Literary Contest


Department of Spanish and Portugese


University of California,


Irvine Irvine, California 92697


¹
Mendoza was not located to secure permission to include her poems in the anthology.

²
Literary critics like Harold Bloom have criticized C/L literatures as too contingent on their historical condition, rather than writing their experience into more “universal” themes that make literary oeuvres. “If Chicano poetry is to survive its own Mexican heritage, then the poets will have to go beyond the constraints and repetitions of politics. Ideology at best can produce period-pieces, not poems” (2,
Hispanic-American Writers
, Philidelphia: Chelsea House, 1998).

³
Individual contest publications were difficult and sometimes were not located.

⁴
An appendix of all winning entries between 1974 to 1999 is included to appreciate the scope of writers represented over the twenty-five years covered.

⁵
Except in the case of Angelo Parra's
Song of the Coquí
, who selected his own excerpt.

⁶
As in the character of Miss JIM-in-ez, or the Latina who plays white in the play “Los vendidos,” published by Teatro Campesino in 1971, and again in 1990 and 1994 by Arte Público P, Houston, TX.

⁷
The reader should note that Cherríe Moraga chose not to include her work in the anthology. Moraga won third place for poetry in 1987-88.

⁸
Likewise, Ana Castillo declined to authorize the inclusion of her work in the anthology. Castillo won Honorable Mention for her poetry in 1976-77.