Para el maestro de Chicano Letras, Rudolfo Anaya, 1937-2020

Monday, July 13, 2020

Rudolfo Anaya: ¡Presente! A Tribute to New Mexico’s Literary Padrino

A panel of scholars and writers discuss the literary life and legacy of Rudolfo Anaya and his works.

About this Event

A panel of scholars and writers discuss the literary life and legacy of Rudolfo Anaya and his works. This online event is presented by the Santa Fe New Mexican and will be shown live on santafenewmexican.com and made available also on Facebook.

Educators are encouraged to share this presentation with students and can contact webeditor@sfnewmexican.com to receive an archive file of this event.

The panel will be moderated by Patricia Trujillo Director, Northern New Mexico College Office of Equity & Diversity.

Panel includes:

Levi Romero New Mexico Poet Laureate
Belinda Henry: Anaya Scholar and niece
Norma E. Cantú: Scholar and author
Author Denise Chavez

Made possible by the support of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs and National Hispanic Cultural Center.

Remembering Chicano Author Rudolfo Anaya, 1937-2020

The acclaimed author has passed at 82 years old.

By Kaytie Norman

On Sunday June 28, Rudolfo Anaya passed away in his New Mexico home. He was best known for his 1972 novel Bless Me, Ultima, which helped launch the 1970s Chicano Literature Movement. The coming-of-age novel is an insightful look at Hispanic culture in 1940s New Mexico, and was adapted into a film in 2013.

Mainstream publishers were initially hesitant to take on Bless Me, Ultima, as they were unsure Anaya's mix of Spanish and English and the Chicano-based content would be of interest to a wider audience. However, they were quickly proven wrong—readers fell in love with Anaya's storytelling and touches of magical realism. The book sold more than 300,000 copies, and is now one of PBS's "100 Great American Reads."

In the 1990s, Anaya found a larger audience as he began publishing more novels, most notably including Alburquerque. Anaya also began writing the Sonny Baca mystery series, including popular titles such as Zia Summer and Rio Grande Fall.

In 2016, in recognition of the author's contributions to American culture, President Barack Obama awarded Anaya the National Humanities Medal.

chicano literature

rudolfo anaya

via Early Bird Books

Remembrance by Alicia Gaspar De Alba

Rest in Power, querido amigo, maestro, y padrino of so many of us whose testimonios here show not only how many lives he touched but also how many Chicana/o writers he fostered, supported, inspired. I met him through Ultima in my first and only Chicano literature class offered at UTEP in the late 1970’s. His book showed me that I was, indeed, a Chicana. In the 1980s while living in Boston I met him again through his amazing A Chicano in China,” the parallels between our two c ultures blew me Away. And I summoned the gumption to submit a few poems to Blue Mesa Review. They published one of them and he sent me a handwritten note, which I returned by telling him how much his travel memoir in China had meant to me in Boston. A few years later when I got accepted in the American Studies PhD program at UNM, he invited me to his house almost as soon as I arrived in Albuquerque, and I knew as soon as I walked into his and Patricia’s home that I was in the home and presence of a true writing master. I remember having lunch with him a at a restaurant in Barelas. And when my Mystery of Survival book of stories won the first Premio Aztlan in 1994, I knew that he was indeed my literary padrino. Gracias y más gracias, queridísimo Rudy, for your patronage and your friendship, for sharing your time and wisdom with me. May your spirit continue blessing our paths and your name inspiring future generations of Chicanx writers.

—Alicia Gaspar De Alba author, scholar, professor

Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Like a Good Golden Drink

Rudolfo y raúlrsalinas, Albuquerque, circa 2005

although you left us how many books?

still, we struggle to find the words

to express our loss.

querido amigo, Rudolfo

gracias por la maestria y todo lo que hicistes

por nuestra gente y nuestro pueblo.

siempre al orden, cumplites con tu deber y lo mandado.

ahora puedes descansar o seguir hechandole punta al lapiz.

nos vemos en la vuelta, hermano.

Like a Good Golden Drink

the sun went down this evening

as Ultima peered at us

her eyes shimmering

like reflections on glass

while constellations swirled

in a pool of carp,bosque leaves

and rusted cans in a heap of recuerdos

we sat in a circle contemplating

life’s concentric forces

and how we set out in one direction

and the universe gives us a boot in the ass

and sends us reeling back towards another

we gather in a sacred space

where the duende resides in solitude

welcoming us with a shot of tequila

Patrocinio’s wood carving on the fireplace mantle

stands like an astronaut suited up

and ready to lead us out towards

worlds unknown

undiscovered

someone leaves the room

and we are shocked back

into the reality of another day down

another evening coming on

—levi romero, poet y professor

Sunday, July 5, 2020

Meet Rudolfo Anaya

Open Road Media

3.89K subscribers

"How can we describe Rudolfo Anaya? One phrase comes up: 'Una fuente de fábulas.' He's a fountain of fables," explains literary scholar Roberto Cantú. 

Watch Cantú, author Denise Chávez, friend Maria Teresa Márquez, author Enrique Lamadrid, and wife Patricia Anaya discuss the legacy and significance of the work of Rudolfo Anaya. 

Anaya is professor emeritus of English at the University of New Mexico. He has received numerous literary awards, including the Premio Quinto Sol and a National Medal of Arts. He is the author of the classic work Bless Me, Ultima, which was chosen for the National Endowment for the Arts' Big Read. Anaya's other books for adults include Tortuga, Heart of Aztlan, Alburquerque, Rio Grande Fall, Shaman Winter, Jemez Spring, Serafina's Stories, The Man Who Could Fly and Other Stories, and Rudolfo Anaya: The Essays. His children's books include Farolitos of Christmas, My Land Sings, Elegy on the Death of César Chávez, Roadrunner's Dance, and The First Tortilla. Bless Me, Ultima was adapted into a feature film in 2013. Anaya resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Learn more about the writer who is, as Chávez says, "the godfather—the padrino."