Gloria Anzaldua's Obituary

Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 11:17:26 -0700
>Internationally recognized cultural theorist and creative writer,
>Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa, passed away on May 15 from
diabetes-related
>complications. She was 61 years old. A versatile author, Anzaldúa
>published poetry, theoretical essays, short stories, autobiographical
>narratives, interviews, children's books, and multigenre anthologies.
As
>one of the first openly lesbian Chicana authors, Anzaldúa played a
major
>role in redefining contemporary Chicano/a and lesbian/queer
identities.
>And as editor or co-editor of three multicultural anthologies,
Anzaldúa has
>also played a vital role in developing an inclusionary feminist
movement.
>Anzaldúa is best known for Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza
>(1987), a hybrid collection of poetry and prose which was named one of
the
>100 Best Books of the Century by both Hungry Mind Review and Utne
Reader.
>Anzaldúa's published works also include This Bridge Called My Back:
>Writings by Radical Women of Color (1981), a ground-breaking
collection of
>essays and poems widely recognized by scholars as the premiere
>multicultural feminist text; Making Face, Making Soul/Haciendo Caras:
>Creative and Critical Perspectives by Feminists-of-Color (1990), a
>multigenre collection used in many university classrooms; two
bilingual
>children's books--Friends from the Other Side/Amigos del otro lado
(1993)
>and Prietita and the Ghost Woman/ Prietita y la Llorona (1995);
>Interviews/Entrevistas (2000), a memoir-like collection of interviews;
and
>this bridge we call home: radical visions for transformation (2002), a
>co-edited collection of essays, poetry, and artwork that examines the
>current status of feminist/womanist theorizing. Anzaldúa has won
numerous
>awards, including the Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award,
the
>Lamda Lesbian Small Book Press Award, an NEA Fiction Award, the
Lesbian
>Rights Award, the Sappho Award of Distinction, an NEA (National
endowment
>for the Arts) Fiction Award, and the American Studies Association
Lifetime
>Achievement Award.
>Anzaldúa was born in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas in 1942,
>the eldest child of Urbano and Amalia Anzaldúa. She received her B.A.
from
>Pan American University, her M.A. from University of Texas, Austin,
and was
>completing her doctorate at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
She
>is survived by her mother, Amalia, her sister, Hilda, and two
brothers:
>Urbano Anzaldúa, Jr. and Oscar Anzaldúa; five nieces, three nephews,
>eighteen grandnieces and grandnephews, a multitude of aunts and
uncles, and
>many close friends.
A public memorial will be planned at a later date.