Anaya, Rudolfo, << uh NY uh, roo DAL foh >> (1937-2020), an American author, was a founder of Chicano literature. A Chicano is a person of Mexican descent who was born in the United States or who identifies with that group. Anaya’s fiction portrays Chicano life in the American Southwest, drawing on the storytelling tradition in Chicano culture. His writings often explore religious beliefs and the loss of faith.
Anaya’s first novel, Bless Me, Ultima (1972), has been called the earliest classic of Chicano literature. The story blends folklore, legends, and symbolism with realism in telling about a boy named Antonio. Antonio grows up in a village in New Mexico. He struggles with his religious faith as well as with choosing between his father’s wandering cowboy life and his mother’s settled agricultural lifestyle.
Anaya’s other novels include Heart of Aztlán (1976), Tortuga (1979), The Legend of La Llorona (1984), and Alburquerque (1992). Anaya also wrote detective novels featuring a Chicano detective named Sonny Baca, beginning with Zia Summer (1995). His short stories were collected in The Silence of the Llano (1982) and The Man Who Could Fly and Other Stories (2006). Anaya also wrote books for young readers, such as Roadrunner’s Dance (2000) and Serafina’s Stories (2004). His poetry was collected in Poems from the Rio Grande (2015). In addition, Anaya wrote plays and edited many collections of Hispanic short stories.
Rudolfo Alfonso Anaya was born on Oct. 30, 1937, in the village of Pastura, New Mexico, near Santa Rosa. He received a B.A. degree in English from the University of New Mexico in 1963. He earned an M.A. degree in English in 1968 and an M.A. in guidance and counseling in 1972, both from the University of New Mexico. Anaya taught at the University of New Mexico from 1974 to 1993. He received the 2015 National Humanities Medal, awarded by President Barack Obama. Anaya died on June 28, 2020,
