Conversations with Rudolfo Anaya

Front Cover
Univ. Press of Mississippi, 1998 - Biography & Autobiography - 191 pages
In this collection of interviews Anaya talks about his life and how New Mexico, his home state, influences his work. The interviews explore the importance that myths and spiritual matters play in his writings. Anaya shares his intimate knowledge of the long struggle of ethnic writers to gain acceptance by mainstream publishers. He also discusses his faith in Chicano literature and the politics of "hate, prejudice, and bigotry" that minorities face throughout the United States. Yet Anaya remains consistent in his call for all Americans to understand one another. For three decades he has been a tireless agent in the push for multiculturalism in his native land.
 

Contents

An Interview with Rudolfo Anaya Ishmael Reed
1
Rudolfo A Anaya Juan BruceNovoa
11
A Conversation with Rudolfo Anaya David
29
An Interview with Rudolfo Anaya Jim Harris
49
An Interview with Rudolfo A Anaya César A GonzálezT
81
An Interview with Rudolfo
91
Rudolfo Anaya John F Crawford
105
Interview with Rudolfo Anaya Rubén Martínez
116
Rudolfo Anaya Feroza Jussawalla
131
Interview with Rudolfo Anaya R S Sharma
142
An Interview with Rudolfo A Anaya
153
Anaya Explores Sexuality Midlife Crisis in New Play Rubén Sosa
161
An Interview with Rudolfo Anaya Bruce Dick and Silvio Sirias
177
Index
187
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (1998)

Rudolfo Anaya, an educator and author, was born on October 30, 1937, in Pastura, New Mexico. He earned a B.A. in English in 1963, an M.A. in 1968 and a second M.A. in Guidance Counseling in 1972 from the University of New Mexico. During the 1960s, Anaya taught in the Albuquerque public schools. In 1974 he began to teach at the University of New Mexico and earned the title of professor emeritus in 1993. Anaya's first novel, Bless Me, Ultima began as a trilogy including Heart of Aztlan (1976), and Tortuga (1979). This loose trilogy based on his life experience as a Chicano child, formed Anaya's reputation. Anaya mixed old Spanish folk tales based on the oral tradition with a theme of loss, specifically the loss of religious belief. In 1993, he won the PEN West Center Fiction Award for his novel Albuquerque. 1995 Anaya received both the El Fuego Nuevo Award from the Mexican American Educators and the Excellence in Humanities Award from the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities. Anaya has lectured extensively around the world. His works have been translated into many languages such as Italian, Russian and Japanese. With his wife Patricia, he founded the Aztlan Premio, a prize encouraging Chicano writers. Anaya resides in Albuquerque. In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded him the National Humanities Medal. He died at the age of 82 on June 28, 2020. Bruce Dick, an associate professor of English at Appalachian State University, is the co-editor of Conversations with Ishmael Reed, a volume in this series. Silvio Sirias is an assistant professor of Spanish and Chicano/Latino literature at Appalachian State University.