Rigoberto González

Rigoberto González (born July 18, 1970) is an American writer and book critic. He is an editor and author of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and bilingual children's books, and self-identifies in his writing as a gay Chicano. His most recent project is ''Latino Poetry,'' a Library of America anthology, which gathers verse that spans from the 17th century to the present day. His memoir ''What Drowns the Flowers in Your Mouth: A Memoir of Brotherhood'' was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Autobiography. He is the 2015 recipient of the Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Publishing Triangle, the 2020 recipient of the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry, and the 2024 recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Review of Books.

Early life and education

Born in Bakersfield, California, on July 18, 1970, and raised in Michoacán, Mexico, he is the son and grandson of migrant farm workers. His extended family migrated back to California in 1980 and returned to Mexico in 1992. González remained alone in the U.S. to complete his education. Details of his troubled childhood in Michoacán and his difficult adolescence as an immigrant in California are the basis for his coming of age memoir ''Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa.''

During his college years he performed with various Baile Folklorico and Flamenco dance troupes. He earned a B.A. degree in Humanities and Social Sciences Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of California, Riverside, and graduate degrees from the University of California, Davis, and Arizona State University in Tempe.

Professional background

In 1997 González enrolled in a PhD program at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, but dropped out a year later to join his partner in New York City and to pursue a writing career. The two published their first books a few months apart in the spring of 1999. In 2001, González pursued a career as an academic, holding teaching appointments at The New School, the University of Toledo, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Queens College/City University of New York.

González has lived and worked mostly in New York City and teaches at the writing program of Rutgers University in Newark, where he is distinguished professor of English and director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing. The recipient of a Lannan Literary Award, United States Artist Rolón Fellowship, the Shelley Memorial Award of the Poetry Society of America, a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, a Lambda Literary Award, the Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award he wrote a monthly Chicano/Latino book review column, from 2002 to 2012, for the El Paso Times. On July 22, 2012, González reached a milestone when he published his 200th review with the Texas newspaper.

In 2008 he was named to the position of 2009 Poet-in-Residence by the Board of Trustees of The Frost Place, the farm house of Robert Frost located in New Hampshire. He was also named one of 100 Men and Women Who Made 2008 a Year to Remember by ''Out'' magazine. In 2009, ''My Latino Voice'' named him one of the 25 most influential GLBT Latinos in the country.

González has championed a number of efforts to give visibility to marginalized voices. He curated and hosted ''The Quetzal Quill'', a reading series at the Cornelia Street Café in Manhattan, and featured a number of poets on The Poetry Foundation blog ''Harriet'', and on the National Book Critics Circle blog ''Critical Mass'' through the Small Press Spotlight Series. He wrote 109 entries for ''Harriet'' and "spotlighted" 66 authors on ''Critical Mass''.

On March 30, 2016, González was named, along with 9 other writers, critic-at-large at the ''L.A. Times''. He also served single terms on the Board of Trustees of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP). and on the Board of Governors of the Poetry Society of America (PSA). As of 2018, he is a member of The Center for Fiction Writers Council and serves on the board of Zoeglossia: A Community for Poets with Disabilities.

On December 6, 2016, González was celebrated for his work and literary activism at Poets House.

As of 2018, González sits on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Machete Series (Ohio State University Press), which "showcases fresh stories, innovative forms, and books that break new aesthetic ground in nonfiction—memoir, personal and lyric essay, literary journalism, cultural meditations, short shorts, hybrid essays, graphic pieces, and more—from authors whose writing has historically been marginalized, ignored, and passed over".

As of 2019, he is faculty of the Randolph College Low-Res MFA in creative writing.

As of 2020, González serves as editor of the University of Arizona Press Camino del Sol Latinx Literary Series.

As of 2021, González serves on the editorial board of the Immigrant Writing Series at Black Lawrence Press, alongside Abayomi Animashaun, Sun Yung Shin, and Ewa Chrusciel.

In 2024, González received the 9th Annual Lifetime Achievement Award (alongside Dave Eggers and Quincy Troupe) from the Los Angeles Review of Books and his alma mater, the University of California-Riverside.

Published works

Full-length poetry collections
* ''To the Boy Who Was Night'' (Four Way Books, 2023),
* ''The Book of Ruin'' (Four Way Books, 2019), ,
* ''Unpeopled Eden'' (Four Way Books, 2013), ,
* ''Black Blossoms'' (Four Way Books, 2011), ,
* ''Other Fugitives and Other Strangers'' (Tupelo Press, 2006),
* ''So Often the Pitcher Goes to Water until It Breaks'' (University of Illinois Press, 1999), ,

Poetry chapbook
* ''Our Lady of the Crossword'' (A Midsummer Night's Press, 2015)

Bilingual children's books
* ''Antonio’s Card/ La Tarjeta de Antonio'' (Children's Book Press, 2005)
* ''Soledad Sigh-Sighs/ Soledad Suspiros'' (Children's Book Press, 2003).

Early reader books in Spanish for Benchmark Education Company
* ''Allá en el rancho grande''
* ''Bronceado por la nieve''
* ''La chinampa de Xóchitl''
* ''¿Cómo se llama el conejito?''
* ''Frida y La Adelita''
* ''La hormiguita Sarita''
* ''La laguna de los lirios de agua''
* ''La magia de La Guajira''
* ''Los músicos de Morelia''
* ''La piñata de tecolote''
* ''La parcela''
* ''Octavio Larrazano: campeón del pueblo''
* ''Operación Deditos Envueltos''
* ''Perdidos en El Yunque''
* ''Roque''
* ''Sebastián, joven historiano''
* ''Tere y el taller de los alebrijes''
* ''Tiembla la tierra''

Novels
* ''Mariposa U.'' (Tincture Books, 2015)
* ''Mariposa Gown'' (Tincture Books, 2012)
* ''The Mariposa Club'' (Alyson Books, 2009; Tincture Books, 2010), ,
* ''Crossing Vines'' (University of Oklahoma Press, 2003), . For commentary on this book, see:

Memoirs and other nonfiction
* ''Abuela in Shadow, Abuela in Light'' (University of Wisconsin Press, 2022),
* ''What Drowns the Flowers in Your Mouth: A Memoir of Brotherhood'' (University of Wisconsin Press, 2018), ,
* ''Pivotal Voices, Era of Transition: Toward a 21st Century Poetics'' (University of Michigan Press, 2017)
* ''Autobiography of My Hungers'' (University of Wisconsin Press, 2013), ,
* ''Red-Inked Retablos: Essays'' (University of Arizona Press, 2013), ,
* ''Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa'' (University of Wisconsin Press, 2006), ,

Short story collections
* ''Men without Bliss'' (University of Oklahoma Press, 2008), ,

Works edited
* ''Latino Poetry'' (Library of America, 2024)
* ''Ploughshares'' (Spring 2019, Volume 45, No. 1)
* ''Xicano Duende: A Select Anthology'' (Bilingual Press, 2011)
* ''Camino del Sol: Fifteen Years of Latina and Latino Writing'' (University of Arizona Press, 2010)

See also

* List of Mexican American writers
* Latino poetry
* Latino literature

References

Sources

Library of Congress Online Catalog > Rigoberto González

External links

Rigoberto Gonzalez's home page

Interview with González
on '' America: The National Catholic Review''
* on ''Café Américain''

Interview with González
on ''The College of St. Rose Blog''

Interview with González
on '' Divedapper''

Interview with González
on ''La Bloga''

Interview with González
on ''Lambda Literary Foundation''

Interview with González
on '' PEN/America''

Interview with González
on ''Prairie Schooner''

Interview with González
on '' Split This Rock''

Interview with González
on ''Words on a Wire''
Rigoberto González recorded for the literary archive in the Hispanic Division at the Library of Congress on April 10, 2014.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Rigoberto
1970 births
Living people
American literary critics
American book editors
21st-century American memoirists
American male poets
American poets of Mexican descent
Arizona State University alumni
American gay writers
Hispanic and Latino American poets
Hispanic and Latino American short story writers
Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry winners
LGBTQ Hispanic and Latino American people
Rutgers University faculty
Writers from Bakersfield, California
Writers from New Jersey
Writers from New York (state)
University of California, Davis alumni
University of California, Riverside alumni
Chapbook writers
American male short story writers
American Book Award winners
American male non-fiction writers
21st-century American poets
21st-century American male writers