Graciela Limón (August 2, 1938 – April 3, 2024) was an American novelist and university professor. She was honored with an

American Book Award The American Book Awards are an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "t ...

and the Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature. Limón wrote critical work on Mexican, Latin American and Caribbean literature. She later concentrated her writing efforts on creative fiction that is germane to her areas of interest: feminism, social justice and cultural identity. Her body of work includes ''In Search of Bernabé'', which won The Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award (1994). Limón also published ''The Memories of Ana Calderón'' (1994), ''Song of the Hummingbird'' (1996) and ''The Day of the Moon'' (1999). ''Erased Faces'', which was awarded the 2002 Gustavus Myers Book Award, was published in 2001; ''Left Alive'' was released in 2005; ''The River Flows North'' in 2009, and ''The Madness of Mamá Carlota'' in 2012. Her last book was ''The Intriguing Life of Ximena Godoy'', published by Cafe con Leche Books.

Life

Graciela Limón was born in East Los Angeles where her parents settled after immigration from Mexico. From an early age, she dreamed of becoming a novelist. She graduated from Bishop Conaty Memorial High School, Marymount College (now

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

Fundación Universidad de las Américas, Puebla Fundación is a town and municipality of the Colombian Department of Magdalena. Its people are known as Fundanenses. The primary economic activity is livestock-raising, for production of both meat and milk. Other crops are: corn, yuca, o ...

with a master's degree, and from

University of California Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the Cal ...

with a PhD in Spanish American Literature. She was a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

, where she taught U.S. and Hispanic literature and also served as chair of the Department of Chicano and Chicana Studies. She attempted to publish a collection of her essays, but every editor she went to rejected them. This caused her to spend some time in depression. She was a professor at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

and

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. She taught courses in Latina/Chicana narratives, border narratives, and contemporary Latin American literature. Limón was an activist in

Chicano Chicano (masculine form) or Chicana (feminine form) is an ethnic identity for Mexican Americans that emerged from the Chicano Movement. In the 1960s, ''Chicano'' was widely reclaimed among Hispanics in the building of a movement toward politic ...

work as well as in the areas of gender and women's affairs. Limón published nine novels, all of which deal with a Latina and trans-border experience. Limón died after a brief illness on April 3, 2024, at the age of 85.

Awards

* 1994, The Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award * 2002,

Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award The Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Awards were literary awards given out each year between 1985 and 2008 by the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights. (Both the awards and the center sometimes had different variations on ...

* 2009, Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature

Works

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Anthologies

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References

External links

* http://www.gracielalimon.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Limon, Graciela 1938 births 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American women novelists Novelists from Los Angeles Loyola Marymount University faculty University of California, Santa Barbara faculty Loyola Marymount University alumni Universidad de las Américas Puebla alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers American Book Award winners American women academics 2024 deaths