Alma Luz Villanueva is a Mexican-American poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

, short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 writer, and novelist.

Life

Her Mexican grandfather edited a newspaper in Hermosillo, Mexico, and was a published poet. Her maternal grandmother, a Yaqui Indian curandera/healer (as was her mother) from Sonora

Sonora

Sonora officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 72 municipalities; the capital city is Hermosillo....

, raised her in the Mission District of San Francisco.

She taught at University of California Santa Cruz, Cabrillo College

Cabrillo College

Cabrillo College is a public community college offering associate degrees and certificates in more than 70 fields of study such as: engineering, computer science, allied health , public safety, marine biology and the visual and performing arts. The college itself is named after the explorer Juan...

, Naropa Institute, Mesa College

Mesa College

Mesa College may refer to:*Mesa Community College, a public, two-year community college in Mesa, Arizona*Mesa State College, a public, liberal-arts college in Grand Junction, Colorado; previously named as Mesa College...

, University of California San Diego, Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

, Pacific University

Pacific University

Pacific University is a private university located in Oregon, United States. The first campus began more than 160 years ago and is located about 38 km west of Portland in Forest Grove...

.
She teaches at Antioch University Los Angeles

Antioch University Los Angeles

Antioch University Los Angeles is a small private liberal arts school currently located in Culver City, California. The school is a campus of Antioch University.-Background:Antioch College was founded in 1852 in Yellow Springs, Ohio...

 in the MFA in Creative Writing Program, for the past ten years.
She lives in San Miguel de Allende

San Miguel de Allende

San Miguel de Allende is a city and municipality located in the far eastern part of the state of Guanajuato in central Mexico. It is 274 km from Mexico City and 97 km from the state capital of Guanajuato...

, Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

.

Awards

• 1989 American Book Award
  American Book Award
  The American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...
  
  for the novel The Ultraviolet Sky
• PEN Oakland fiction award, 1994, for the novel "Naked Ladies"
• Latin American Book Award, New York, for poetry, "word up"
• 1976-1977 Chicano/Latino Literary Prize

Works

• The Ultraviolet Sky, republished with Doubleday, 1993. ISBN 0-385-42014-5
• Life Span (Place of Herons Press, 1985)
• Blood Root (Blue Heron Press, 1977)

Anthologies

• Jose Gurpegui, ed (2009). Camino Real. Universidad de Alcala- Madrid, Spain. ISBN 18895611
• "Pembroke Magazine, Number 40" (University of North Carolina, 2008)
• Susan Koppelman, ed (2003). Between Mothers and Daughters: Stories Across Generations. The Feminist Press. ISBN 9781558614598
• Burleigh Muten, ed (1999). Her Words: Anthology of Poetry About The Great Goddess. Shambhala. ISBN 9781570624735
• Burleigh Muten, ed (1997). Return of The Great Goddess. Stewart, Tabori, Chang. ISBN 9781556706081 (reprint 2008)
• Janine Canan, ed (1989). She Rises Like The Sun: Invocations of the Goddess by Contemporary American Women. Crossing Press. ISBN 9780895943538 (reprint HarperPerennial, August 1993, ISBN 0060965177)

External links

• "Author's website"
• http://www.voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/villanuevaAlma.php