Gary Soto
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Gary Anthony Soto (born April 12, 1952) is an American poet, novelist, and memoirist.
Life and career
Soto was born to Mexican-American parents Manuel (1910–1957) and Angie Soto (1924-). In his youth, he worked in the fields of the San Joaquin Valley. Soto's father died in 1957, when he was five years old. As his family had to struggle to find work, he had little time or encouragement in his studies.[1] Soto notes that in spite of his early academic record, while at high school he found an interest in poetry through writers such as Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Jules Verne, Robert Frost and Thornton Wilder.[2]
Soto attended Fresno City College and California State University, Fresno, where he earned his B.A. degree in English in 1974,[2] studying with poet Philip Levine.[1] He did graduate work in poetry writing at the University of California, Irvine, where he was the first Mexican-American to earn a M.F.A. in 1976. He states that he wanted to become a writer in college after discovering the novelist Gabriel García Márquez and the contemporary poets Edward Field, W. S. Merwin, Charles Simic, James Wright and Pablo Neruda, whom he calls "the master of them all."[2]
Soto taught at University of California, Berkeley[1] and at University of California, Riverside,[3] where he was a Distinguished Professor.[4]
Soto was a 'Young People's Ambassador' for the
Soto lives in northern California, dividing his time between Berkeley and Fresno, but is no longer teaching.[6]
Work
Soto's poetry focuses on daily experiences,
Soto writes novels, plays and memoirs, and has edited several literary anthologies. His story "The No-Guitar Blues" was made into a film,[2] and he produced another film based on his book "The Pool Party."[6] He is a prolific writer of children's books.[1]
About his work Joyce Carol Oates noted "Gary Soto's poems are fast, funny, heartening, and achingly believable, like Polaroid love letters, or snatches of music heard out of a passing car; patches of beauty like patches of sunlight; the very pulse of a life."[7]
Awards and honors
Soto's first collection of poems, The Elements of San Joaquin, won the United States Award of the
In 1993, Soto received the
Other honors include the "Discovery"/
The library at Winchell Elementary School in Fresno was named after Soto.[2]
In 2011, the Old Administration Building at Fresno City College became the permanent home of the Gary Soto Literary Museum.[9]
In 2014, Soto received the Phoenix Award for his 1994 children's book Jesse. The award committee stated: "Jesse is both a coming-of-age story of one Mexican-American boy with a poetic sensibility and the story of a community and a country at a difficult time—facing poverty and prejudice and war, problems we are still facing today. Jesse offers an unembellished slice of life in Vietnam-era Fresno, California."[10]
Bibliography
Poetry collections
- Downtime (Gunpowder Press, 2023)
- Meatballs for the People: Proverbs to Chew On (Red Hen Press, 2017)
- Sudden Loss of Dignity. Stephen F. Austin University Press. 2013. ISBN 978-1-62288-005-8.
- Partly Cloudy: Poems of love and longing (Harcourt, 2009)
- A Simple Plan (Chronicle Books, 2007)
- One Kind of Faith (Chronicle Books, 2003)
- A Natural Man (Chronicle Books, 1999)
- Junior College (1997)
- New and selected poems (Chronicle Books, 1995) National Book Award finalist
- Canto Familiar/Familiar Song (1994)
- Neighborhood Odes (1992)
- Home Course in Religion (1991)
- Saturday at the Canal (1991)
- Who Will Know Us? (1990)
- Black Hair (1985)
- Where Sparrows Work Hard (1981)
- The Tale of Sunlight (1978)
- The Elements of San Joaquin (1977)
- Waiting at the curb: Lynwood California (1967)
Young adult/children's books
- Baseball in April (1990)
- A Fire in My Hands (1991)
- Taking Sides (1991)
- Pacific Crossing (1992), sequel to Taking Sides added by DaeQuan Jones
- Too Many Tamales (1992)
- The Skirt (1992)
- The Pool Party (1993)
- Local News (1993)
- Jesse (1994)
- 7th grade (1995)
- Crazy Weekend (1994)
- Boys at Work (1995)
- Summer On Wheels (1995)
- Canto Familiar (1995)
- Buried Onions (1997)
- The Cat's Meow (1997)
- Jessie De La Cruz: A Profile of a United Farm Worker (2000)
- Fearless Fernie (2002)
- If the Shoe Fits (2002)
- Marisol (2005)
- When Dad Came Back (2011), ebook
Chato
Beginning in 1995 with Chato's Kitchen (Chato y su cena), and Chato's Day of Dead (2006).
Anthologies as editor
- Entrance: Four Latino Poets (1976)
- California Childhood (1988)
- Pieces of Heart (1993)
- Afterlife(1999)
Memoir
- Why I Don't Write Children's Literature (2015)
- What Poets Are Like: Up and Down with the Writing Life (2013)
- American Book Award
- Small Faces (1986)
- Lesser Evils: Ten Quartets (1988)
- A Summer Life (1990)
- The Effects of Knut Hamsun on a Fresno Boy (2001)
- The Jacket (1983)
Plays
- Novio Boy: A play (2006)
Film
- The No-Guitar Blues (1991) based on a story from Baseball in April[14]
- The Bike (1991, director)[15]
- The Pool Party (producer, 1992) Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children's Video (1993)
- Novio Boy (1994, director)[16]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Gary Soto at NotableBiographies.com, accessed August 28, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f "Soto's FAQ page". Archived from the original on January 4, 2010. Retrieved August 29, 2009.
- ^ University of California news item, 12 June 2001 Archived July 20, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, accessed August 28, 2009.
- ^ University of California news item, 30 January 2002 Archived October 18, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, accessed August 28, 2009.
- ^ Pattonville School District website news, accessed February 23, 2010
- ^ a b c d e "Soto's online biography". Archived from the original on August 30, 2009. Retrieved August 29, 2009.
- ^ Amazon reviews, accessed November 24, 2009.
- ^ "Hispanic Heritage Awards for Literature". Hispanic Heritage Foundation. Retrieved January 11, 2011.
- ^ Gary Soto Literary Museum Homepage Archived December 23, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, accessed December 8, 2016.
- ^ ChLA Newsletter Archived July 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Vol. 20, Issue 2 (Autumn 2013). pp. 6–7. Retrieved 2014-07-12.
- ^ a Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award winner "Rivera Book Award: Past Winners". Archived from the original on October 22, 2010.
- ^ "The Pura Belpré Award winners, 1996-present". Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC), American Library Association. November 30, 1999. Archived from the original on October 30, 2011.
- ^ Reynolds, Angela J. (July 2005). "Chato Goes Cruisin' ". School Library Journal. 51 (7): 28.
- ^ https://search.worldcat.org/title/The-No-guitar-blues/oclc/317395765
- ^ https://search.library.berkeley.edu/permalink/01UCS_BER/10rhv18/alma991029424609706532
- ^ https://search.library.berkeley.edu/permalink/01UCS_BER/10rhv18/alma991029875269706532
Further reading
- Gary Soto, (print and on-line)
External links
- Official website
- Profile and poems at the Academy of American Poets
- Profile and poems at the Poetry Foundation
- Gary Soto at Library of Congress, with 79 library catalog records (1977–2013)
- Gary Soto Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.