Francisco X. Alarcón
Encyclopedia
Francisco Xavier Alarcón (born 21 February 1954 Wilmington, California) is an American poet
and educator.
, and Stanford University
.
He teaches at the University of California, Davis
.
In response to a group of students chaining themselves to the Arizona State Capitol
on April 20, 2010 to protest the anti-immigrant legislation Arizona SB 1070, Alarcón penned the poem "For the Capitol Nine" and posted it to his Facebook
page. Prompted by the response to this poem, he created a Facebook group called "Poets Responding to SB 1070", which grew to include over 1200 poems and received over 600,000 hits. A anthology of poems from the group is being prepared for publication.
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and educator.
Life
He moved to Guadalajara, Mexico, when he was 6. He graduated from California State University, Long BeachCalifornia State University, Long Beach
California State University, Long Beach is the second largest campus of the California State University system and the third largest university in the state of California by enrollment...
, and Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
.
He teaches at the University of California, Davis
University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...
.
In response to a group of students chaining themselves to the Arizona State Capitol
Arizona State Capitol
The Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, formerly housed the Territorial and State Legislatures, as well as various executive offices...
on April 20, 2010 to protest the anti-immigrant legislation Arizona SB 1070, Alarcón penned the poem "For the Capitol Nine" and posted it to his Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
page. Prompted by the response to this poem, he created a Facebook group called "Poets Responding to SB 1070", which grew to include over 1200 poems and received over 600,000 hits. A anthology of poems from the group is being prepared for publication.
Awards
- 1984 Chicano Literary Prize
- 1993 American Book AwardAmerican Book AwardThe American Book Award was established in 1978 by the Before Columbus Foundation. It seeks to recognize outstanding literary achievement by contemporary American authors, without restriction to race, sex, ethnic background, or genre...
- 1993 PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award
- 1997 Pura Belpré Honor Award by the American Library Association
- 1998 Carlos Pellicer-Robert Frost Poetry Honor Award by the Third Binational Border Poetry Contest, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.
- 2002 Pura Belpré Honor Award, Danforth and Fulbright fellowships
- 2002 Fred Cody Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bay Area Book Reviewers Association (BABRA)
Works
- Sonnets to Madness and Other Misfortunes / Sonetos a la locura y otras penas (Berkeley: Creative Arts Book Company 2001)
- From the Other Side of Night / Del otro lado de la noche: New and Selected Poems (University of Arizona Press 2002)