Gary Soto

Gary Soto
Soto at the 2001National Book Festival
Born	Gary Anthony Soto (1952-04-12)April 12, 1952 Fresno, California
Occupation	Author, poet
Education	MFA
Alma mater	UC Irvine, CSU Fresno
Period	1977-present
Genre	poetry, novels, memoirs, children's literature
Notable works	Petty Crimes New and Selected Poems Living Up the Street
Notable awards	Academy of American PoetsPrize American Book Award NEAFellowship GuggenheimFellowship
Website
garysoto

Gary Anthony Soto(born April 12, 1952) is an American poet, novelist, and memoirist.

Life and career

Soto was born to Mexican-American parents Manuel (1910–1957) and Angie Soto (1924-). In his youth, he worked in the fields of theSan Joaquin Valley.Soto's father died in 1957, when he was five years old. As his family had to struggle to find work, he had little time or encouragement in his studies.Soto notes that in spite of his early academic record, while at high school he found an interest in poetry through writers such asErnest Hemingway,John Steinbeck,Jules Verne,Robert FrostandThornton Wilder.

Soto attendedFresno City CollegeandCalifornia State University, Fresno,where he earned hisB.A.degree in English in 1974,studying with poetPhilip Levine.He did graduate work in poetry writing at theUniversity of California, Irvine,where he was the first Mexican-American to earn aM.F.A.in 1976. He states that he wanted to become a writer in college after discovering the novelistGabriel García Márquezand the contemporary poetsEdward Field,W. S. Merwin,Charles Simic,James WrightandPablo Neruda,whom he calls "the master of them all."

Soto taught atUniversity of California, Berkeleyand at theUniversity of California, Riverside,where he was a Distinguished Professor.

Soto was a 'Young People's Ambassador' for theUnited Farm Workers of America,introducing young people to the organization's work and goals.Soto became the sponsor for the Pattonville High School Spanish National Honor Society in 2009.

Soto lives in northern California, dividing his time betweenBerkeleyand Fresno, but is no longer teaching.

Work

Soto's poetry focuses on daily experiences,often reflecting on his life as aMexican American.Regarding his relationship with the Mexican-American community, Soto commented "as a writer, my duty is not to make people perfect, particularly Mexican Americans. I’m not a cheerleader. I’m one who provides portraits of people in the rush of life."

Soto writes novels, plays and memoirs, and has edited several literary anthologies. His story "The No-Guitar Blues" was made into a film,and he produced another film based on his book "The Pool Party."He is a prolific writer of children's books.

About his workJoyce Carol Oatesnoted "Gary Soto's poems are fast, funny, heartening, and achingly believable, like Polaroid love letters, or snatches of music heard out of a passing car; patches of beauty like patches of sunlight; the very pulse of a life."

Awards and honors

Soto's first collection of poems,The Elements of San Joaquin,won the United States Award of theInternational Poetry Forumin 1976 prior to its publication in thePitt Poetry Seriesin 1977. TheNew York Times Book Reviewalso honored the book by reprinting six of the poems. In 1985, his memoirLiving Up the Streetreceived theBefore Columbus Foundation'sAmerican Book Award.

In 1993, Soto received theAndrew CarnegieMedal for Film Excellence from theAssociation for Library Service to Childrenfor his production work on the filmThe Pool Party.In 1999, Soto received theHispanic Heritage Award for Literature,the Author-Illustrator Civil Rights Award from theNational Education Association,and thePENCenter West Book Award forPetty Crimes.

Other honors include the "Discovery" /The NationPrize, theBess Hokin Prizeand theLevinson AwardfromPoetry.He has received The California Library Association'sJohn and Patricia Beatty Award(twice), a Recognition of Merit from theClaremont Graduate SchoolforBaseball in April,the Silver Medal from theCommonwealth Club of California,and theTomás RiveraPrize.

The library at Winchell Elementary School in Fresno was named after Soto.

In 2011, the Old Administration Building at Fresno City College became the permanent home of the Gary Soto Literary Museum.

In 2014, Soto received thePhoenix Awardfor his 1994 children's bookJesse.The award committee stated: "Jesseis both a coming-of-age story of one Mexican-American boy with a poetic sensibility and the story of a community and a country at a difficult time—facing poverty and prejudice and war, problems we are still facing today.Jesseoffers an unembellished slice of life in Vietnam-eraFresno, California."

Bibliography

Poetry collections

• Downtime(Gunpowder Press, 2023)
• Meatballs for the People: Proverbs to Chew On(Red Hen Press,2017)
• Sudden Loss of Dignity.Stephen F. Austin University Press. 2013.ISBN978-1-62288-005-8.
• Partly Cloudy: Poems of love and longing(Harcourt, 2009)
• A Simple Plan(Chronicle Books,2007)
• One Kind of Faith(Chronicle Books,2003)
• A Natural Man(Chronicle Books,1999)
• Junior College(1997)
• New and selected poems(Chronicle Books,1995)National Book Awardfinalist
• Canto Familiar/Familiar Song(1994)
• Neighborhood Odes(1992)
• Home Course in Religion(1991)
• Saturday at the Canal(1991)
• Who Will Know Us?(1990)
• Black Hair(1985)
• Where Sparrows Work Hard(1981)
• The Tale of Sunlight(1978)
• The Elements of San Joaquin(1977)
• Waiting at the curb: Lynwood California(1967)

Young adult/children's books

• Baseball in April(1990)
• A Fire in My Hands(1991)
• Taking Sides(1991)
• Pacific Crossing(1992), sequel to Taking Sides added by DaeQuan Jones
• Too Many Tamales(1992)
• The Skirt(1992)
• The Pool Party(1993)
• Local News(1993)
• Jesse(1994)
• 7th grade(1995)
• Crazy Weekend(1994)
• Boys at Work(1995)
• Summer On Wheels(1995)
• Canto Familiar(1995)
• Buried Onions (1997)
• The Cat's Meow(1997)
• Jessie De La Cruz:A Profile of a United Farm Worker(2000)
• Fearless Fernie(2002)
• If the Shoe Fits(2002)
• The Afterlife(2003)
• Marisol(2005)
• When Dad Came Back(2011), ebook

Chato

Beginning in 1995 withChato's Kitchen(Chato y su cena),Soto released a series of children's picture books in Spanish and English about a real, cool cat (gato), a low rider from thebarrioofEast Los Angeles.They were illustrated by Susan Guevara, and the second oneChato and the Party Animals(Chato y los amigos pachangueros.) (2000) won thePura Belpre Medalfor best illustration in 2002.The series continued withChato Goes Cruisin'(2004)andChato's Day of Dead(2006).

Anthologies as editor

• Entrance: Four Latino Poets(1976)
• California Childhood(1988)
• Pieces of Heart(1993)

Memoir

• Why I Don't Write Children's Literature(2015)
• What Poets Are Like: Up and Down with the Writing Life(2013)
• Living Up the Street(1985),American Book Award
• Small Faces(1986)
• Lesser Evils: Ten Quartets(1988)
• A Summer Life(1990)
• The Effects of Knut Hamsun on a Fresno Boy(2001)
• The Jacket(1983)

Plays

• Novio Boy: A play(2006)

Film

• The No-Guitar Blues(1991) based on a story fromBaseball in April
• The Bike(1991, director)
• The Pool Party(producer, 1992)Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children's Video(1993)
• Novio Boy(1994, director)

Further reading

• Gary Soto,Richard Hugo,John Haines,William Matthews,Reg Saner,Richard Shelton,William Stafford,andDavid Wagoner(1982).Wild, Peterand Graziano, Frank (ed.).New Poetry of the American West.Durango, CO: Logbridge-Rhodes. pp.104.ISBN978-0937406199.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)OCLC8589531,655452420,610178960(print and on-line)

External links

• Official website
• Profile and poemsat theAcademy of American Poets
• Profile and poemsat thePoetry Foundation
• Gary SotoatLibrary of Congress,with 79 library catalog records (1977–2013)
• Gary Soto Papers.Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.