About Rudolfo Anaya

Rudolfo Anaya was born on October 30, 1937 in Pastura, Mexico, but moved shortly after he was born. For about the first 14 years of his life he lived in a small town called Santa Rosa. In 1952 him and his family moved to Albuquerque where he was introduced to many cultural changes, including racism, which he had not previously experienced. He had six other siblings. He was not taught English until he started going to school. In his home there were no books so when he went to school it was interesting to him. He was finally able to read stories and often read books like Nancy Drew and other western stories. He worked very hard and his mother encouraged him to excel in his studies. When Anaya was 16 he was with friends swimming in a ditch. He decided to dive into it. This resulted in him breaking two vertebrate in his neck and being temporarily paralyzed. After this, he had a new outlook on life. He realized how valuable life is and it gave him more motivation than ever before. He initially went to business school but quickly realized his heart was not in that and switched to a liberal arts program. He went to the University of New Mexico. Anaya worked hard to get his masters degree in literature and met his wife during the process. She was there learning to be a guidance counselor which she accomplished. It took him a while before he had found his own style. He says that for a long time he was just copying other authors styles because he wasn't sure he was good enough to try his own. He wanted to ask for help from his family to help him find how he should write. Ultima was a mentor both in the story and for him in real life. She was this random old woman that helped inspire him. He was learning to write when he wrote Bless Me Ultima, and he realized he should use his own culture to help inspire him while writing this novel. When he finally finished it he tried to get it published but was rejected many times because it was half spanish and english. Eventually TQS Publications agreed.

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