Poetry. Latino/Latina Studies. A poet with a strong commitment to social problems, alurista continues to explore racism and other forms of bigotry in ET TÚ...RAZA?, his newest collection of poetry. These poems are angry and full of energy; they call us to action. Like the poems of e.e. cummings, alurista's work is at once simple and highly complex. He often begins a poem with a playful tone but then expands it to shed light on some of the most important issues of our time.

Author City: SAN JOSE, CA USA

alurista is one of the seminal and most influential voices in the history of Chicano Literature. A pioneering poet of the Chicano Movement in the late 60s and 70s, he broke down barriers in the publishing world with his use of bilingual and multilingual writings in Spanish, English, Nahuatl and Maya. A scholar, activist, editor, organizer and philosopher, he holds a Ph.D in Spanish and Latin American Literature from the University of California in San Diego and is the author of ten books including Floricanto en Aztlán (1971), Timespace Huracán (1976), Spik in Glyph? (1981) and Z EROS (1995). His book ET TÚ...RAZA? won the Before Columbus Foundation National Book Award in Poetry in 1996. Author of "El Plan Espiritual de Aztlán," he is a key figure in the reclaiming of the MeXicano cultural identity, history and heritage through his integration of American Indian language, symbols and spirituality in his writings.