Search - List of Books by Rudolfo Anaya
Rudolfo Anaya (born October 30, 1937) is an American author. Best known for his 1972 novel Bless Me, Ultima, Anaya is considered one of the founders of the canon of contemporary Chicano literature.
Rudolfo Alfonso Anaya was born in the rural village of Pastura, New Mexico, to Martin and Rafaelita Anaya. His father came from a family of cattle workers and sheepherders, and his mother’s family were farmers. Anaya was the fifth of their seven children together; he also had three half-siblings from his parents’ previous marriages. When Anaya was a small child, his family moved to Santa Rosa, New Mexico. In 1952, they relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they lived in the Barelas neighborhood. Spanish was spoken at home, and Anaya did not learn English until he started school.
When he was a teenager, Anaya suffered a diving accident while swimming with friends in an irrigation ditch and broke two verterbrae in his neck. At first rendered paralyzed by the accident, he eventually made a substantial recovery, learning to walk again though never becoming entirely free of pain. In 1956, Anaya graduated from an Albuquerque high school. He then attended business school for two years, but he found it unfulfilling. He transferred to the University of New Mexico, where he graduated in 1963 with a degree in English.
Anaya worked as a public school teacher in Albuquerque from 1963 to 1970. In 1966, he married Patricia Lawless, who would serve as his editor over the years. She encouraged him to pursue his literary endeavors, and over a period of seven years, he completed his first novel, Bless Me, Ultima. Dozens of publishing houses rejected the novel. Finally, in 1972, a group of editors at El Grito, a Chicano quarterly, accepted the book. Bless Me, Ultima went on to win the prestigious Premio Quinto Sol award and is now considered a classic Chicano work. It was chosen as one of the books of The Big Read, a community-reading program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. It is also one of the literary works in 2009 of the United States Academic Decathlon. Anaya followed Bless Me, Ultima with Heart of Aztlan (1978) and Tortuga (1979), forming a trilogy.
In 1974, Anaya accepted a position as an associate professor at the University of New Mexico. He became a full professor in the Department of English Language and Literature in 1988. Since retiring from the University in 1993 as a Professor Emeritus, Anaya has continued to write, completing...among other works...the novel Alburquerque and the Sonny Baca quartet of detective novels. He has recently published a number of books for children and young adults.
Fiction
- Bless Me, Ultima (1972), ISBN 0-446-67536-9
- Heart of Aztlan (1976), ISBN 0915808188
- Tortuga (1979), ISBN 091580834X
- Silence of the Llano: Short Stories (1982), ISBN 0892290099
- The Legend of La Llorona: A Short Novel (1984), ISBN 0892290153
- Lord of the Dawn: the Legend of Quetzalcóatl (1987), ISBN 0-8263-1001-X
- Alburquerque (1992), ISBN 0-8263-1359-0
- Zia Summer (1995), ISBN 0446518433
- Jalamanta: A Message from the Desert (1996), ISBN 0446520241
- Rio Grande Fall (1996), ISBN 0446518441
- Shaman Winter (1999), ISBN 0446523747
- Serafina's Stories (2004), ISBN 0826335691
- Jemez Spring (2005), ISBN 0826336841
- The Man Who Could Fly and Other Stories (2006), ISBN 0-8061-3738-X
Books for children
- The Farolitos of Christmas: A New Mexico Christmas Story (1987), ISBN 0-937206-05-9
- Maya's Children: The Story of La Llorana (1996), illustrated by Maria Baca, ISBN 0-7868-0152-2
- Farolitos for Abuelo (1998), illustrated by Edward Gonzalez, ISBN 0-7868-0237-5
- My Land Sings: Stories from the Rio Grande (1999), illustrated by Amy Córdova, ISBN 0-688-15078-0
- Elegy on the Death of César Chávez (2000), illustrated by Gaspar Enriquez, ISBN 0-938317-51-2
- Roadrunner's Dance (2000), illustrated by David Diaz, ISBN 0-7868-0254-5
- The Santero's Miracle: A Bilingual Story (2004), illustrated by Amy Córdova, Spanish translation by Enrique Lamadrid, ISBN 0-8263-2847-4
- The Curse of the ChupaCabra (2006), ISBN 0826341144
- The First Tortilla (2007), illustrated by Amy Córdova, Spanish translation by Enrique Lamadrid, ISBN 0826342140
- ChupaCabra and the Roswell UFO (2008), ISBN 0826344690
Non-fiction and Anthologies
- Voices from the Rio Grande: Selections from the First Rio Grande Writers Conference (1976)
- Cuentos: Tales from the Hispanic Southwest (1980), with Jose Griego y Maestas, ISBN 0890131112
- A Ceremony of Brotherhood, 1680-1980 (1981), edited with Simon J. Ortiz
- Cuentos Chicanos: A Short Story Anthology (rev. ed. 1984), edited with Antonio Márquez, ISBN 0-8263-0772-8
- A Chicano in China (1986), ISBN 0-8263-0888-0
- Voces: An Anthology of Nuevo Mexicano Writers (1987, 1988), editor, ISBN 0-8263-1040-0
- Aztlán: Essays on the Chicano Homeland (1989), edited with Francisco A. Lamelí, ISBN 0-929820-01-0
- Tierra: Contemporary Short Fiction of New Mexico (1989), editor, ISBN 0-938317-09-1
- Flow of the River (2nd ed. 1992), ISBN 0-944725-00-7
- Descansos: An Interrupted Journey (1995), with Denise Chávez and Juan Estevan Arellano, ISBN 0-929820-06-1
- Chicano/a Studies: Writing into the Future (1998), edited with Robert Con Davis-Undiano
Poetry
- Adventures of Juan Chicaspatas (1985), ISBN 093477045X
Published or Performed Plays
- The Season of La Llorona
- Ay, Compadre! (1994)
- The Farolitos of Christmas (1987)
- Matachines (1992)
- Billy the Kid (1995)
- Who Killed Don Jose? (1995)
- Premio Quinto Sol literary award, for Bless Me, Ultima, 1970
- NM Governor's Public Service Award, 1978, 1980
- Natl Chicano Council on Higher Education fellowship, 1978—79
- NEA fellowships, 1979, 1980
- American Book Award, Before Columbus Foundation, for Tortuga, 1980
- D.H.L., Univ. of Albuquerque, 1981
- Corporation for Public Broadcasting script development award, for "Rosa Linda," 1982
- Award for Achievement in Chicano Literature, Hispanic Caucus of Teachers of English, 1983
- Kellogg Foundation fellowship, 1983—85
- D.H.L., Marycrest Coll., 1984
- Mexican Medal of Friendship, Mexican Consulate of Albuquerque, 1986
- PEN-West Fiction Award, 1992, for Alburquerque.
- NEA National Medal of Arts Lifetime Honor, 2001 NEA National Medal of Arts webpage
- People's Choice Award, 2007 New Mexico Book Awards
- Notable New Mexican 2007 (http://www.albuquerquemuseum.com/pages/nnm.html)
Total Books: 57