Art Works Podcast: A Conversation with Rudolfo Anaya

Published in 1972, Bless Me, Ultima tells the story of six-year-old Antonio who lives in Northern New Mexico during the Second World War. When the book opens, Ultima a traditional healer or curandera has come to live with the family, and she serves as a teacher to Antonio as he tries to resolve competing tensions in his life, between his mother and his father, between his home and his school, and between the Catholic religion and the curandera's spirituality.  In many ways, the book echoes Anaya's own background.