Victor Martinez (author)
Encyclopedia
Victor Martinez was a Mexican American
poet and author.
He was the son of migrant field workers in California's Central Valley, born into a family that ultimately included eleven siblings. He attended California State University at Fresno and later obtained a graduate degree from Stanford University
on a Wallace Stegner Creative Writing Fellowship
.
Martinez began his writing career as a poet and published a book of poetry, "Caring for a House," in 1992. He was a member of Humanizarte, a collective of Chicano poets, and later of the Chicano/Latino Writers' Center of San Francisco. He supported himself with jobs as a welder, truck driver, firefighter, teacher, and office clerk. He won the 1996 National Book Award
for Young People's Literature for his first novel, "Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida." "Parrot in the Oven" was a semi-autobiographical account of a 14-year old Mexican American boy growing up "in a world of gangs, violence and poverty" in the projects of the Central Valley. Martinez wrote the book as a novel for adults, but an editor suggested marketing it to the young adult market. Martinez's novel, Parrot In The Oven, has been translated into various languages, including Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and German, and was widely acclaimed by young people around the world. In February 2011, he died of lung cancer at age 56 in San Francisco
.
Mexican American
Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...
poet and author.
He was the son of migrant field workers in California's Central Valley, born into a family that ultimately included eleven siblings. He attended California State University at Fresno and later obtained a graduate degree from 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...
on a Wallace Stegner Creative Writing Fellowship
Stegner Fellowship
The Stegner Fellowship program is a two-year creative writing fellowship at Stanford University. The award is named after American Wallace Stegner , an historian, novelist, short story writer, environmentalist, and Stanford faculty member who founded the university's creative writing program. Ten...
.
Martinez began his writing career as a poet and published a book of poetry, "Caring for a House," in 1992. He was a member of Humanizarte, a collective of Chicano poets, and later of the Chicano/Latino Writers' Center of San Francisco. He supported himself with jobs as a welder, truck driver, firefighter, teacher, and office clerk. He won the 1996 National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
for Young People's Literature for his first novel, "Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida." "Parrot in the Oven" was a semi-autobiographical account of a 14-year old Mexican American boy growing up "in a world of gangs, violence and poverty" in the projects of the Central Valley. Martinez wrote the book as a novel for adults, but an editor suggested marketing it to the young adult market. Martinez's novel, Parrot In The Oven, has been translated into various languages, including Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and German, and was widely acclaimed by young people around the world. In February 2011, he died of lung cancer at age 56 in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
.