Viola Canales is an American writer originally from McAllen, Texas

McAllen, Texas

McAllen is the largest city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States. It is located at the southern tip of Texas in an area known as the Rio Grande Valley and is part of the . Its southern boundary is located about five miles from the U.S.–Mexico border and the Mexican city of Reynosa, the Rio...

. She has published a short story collection, Orange Candy Slices and Other Secret Tales (2001), and a novel, The Tequila Worm (2005) for which she won the Pura Belpré Award in 2006.

Canales attended St. Stephen's Episcopal School in Austin

Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

, Harvard College

Harvard College

Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...

, and Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

. She has been a captain in the US Army, a litigator, and an official in the Clinton Administration.

Her partner is Pamela S. Karlan

Pamela S. Karlan

Pamela Susan Karlan is a professor of law at Stanford Law School and a leading liberal legal scholar on voting rights and the political process.- Early life and education :...

.