Rolando Hinojosa

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Rolando Hinojosa on a visit to UC Merced; December, 2006.

Rolando Hinojosa is a novelist and the Ellen Clayton Garwood professor in the English Department at the University of Texas at Austin.

Hinojosa has devoted most of his career as a writer to his "Klail City Death Trip Series," which comprises 15 volumes to-date, from “Estampas del Valle y otras obras” (1973) to “We Happy Few” (2006). He has completely populated a fictional county in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas through this generational narrative. Although he prefers to write in Spanish, Hinojosa has also translated his own books and written others in English.

He was born in Texas's Lower Rio Grande Valley in 1929, to a family with strong Mexican and American roots: His father fought in the Mexican Revolution while his mother maintained the family north of the border. An avid reader during childhood, Hinojosa was raised speaking Spanish until junior high, where English was the primary spoken language. Like his grandmother, mother and three of his four siblings, Hinojosa became a teacher; he has held several academic posts and has also been active in administration and consulting work.

Hinojosa was the first Chicano author to receive the prestigious Premio Casa de las Américas award for “Klail City y sus alrededores” (Klail City), part of the series. He also received the Quinto Sol Annual Prize (1972), for his work, which encompasses novels, poetry and essays.

[edit] Works

Ask a Policeman. Houston: Arte Público. 1998.
Los amigos de Becky. Houston, TX: Arte Público, 1991.
Becky and her Friends. Houston, TX: Arte Público, 1990.
Claros varones de Belken. Tempe, AZ: Bilingual, 1986.
El condado de Belken: Klail City. Tempe: Bilingual, 1994.
"Crossing the Line: The Construction of a Poem." Milwaukee, WI: Spanish Speaking Outreach Institute-U. of Wisconsin, 1981.
Dear Rafe. Houston, TX: Arte Público, 1985.
Dear Rafe/Mi querido Rafa. Houston: Arte Público Press, 2005.
Estampas del Valle. Tempe: Bilingual, 1994.
Estampas del Valle y otras obras. Berkeley: Quinto Sol, 1973.
Estampas del Valle y otras obras. Berkeley: Justa, 1977.
Generaciones, notas y brechas. San Francisco: Casa Editorial, 1978.
Generaciones y semblanzas. 1977. Berkeley: Justa, 1979.
Klail City. Houston, TX: Arte Público, 1987.
Klail City und Umgebung. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1981.
Klail City y sus alrededores. La Habana: Casa de las Américas, 1976.
Korea Liebes Lieder/Korean Love Songs. Osnabrück, Germany: O.B.E.M.A., 1991.
Korean Love Songs. Berkeley, CA: Justa, 1978.
Mi querido Rafa. Houston, TX: Arte Público, 1981.
Partners in Crime. Houston, TX: Arte Público, 1985.
Rites and Witnesses. Houston, TX: Arte Público, 1982.
This Migrant Earth. Houston, TX: Arte Público, 1987.
The Useless Servants. Houston: Arte Público, 1993.
The Valley. Ypsilanti, MI: Bilingual, 1983.
We Happy Few. Houston: Arte Público Press, 2006.

[edit] References

B Lee, Joyce Glover (1997). Rolando Hinojosa and the American Dream. Denton, TX: University of North Texas Press.
Martín-Rodríguez, Manuel M. (1993). Rolando Hinojosa y su "cronicón" chicano: Una novela del lector. Sevilla, Spain: Universidad de Sevilla.
Saldívar, José David, ed. (1984). The Rolando Hinojosa Reader. Houston: Arte Público Press.
Zilles, Klaus. (2001). Rolando Hinojosa: A Reader’s Guide. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.