Gary Soto

Ronald McFarland (University of Idaho)
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In 1977, 25 years old, two years married and one year after receiving his Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of California, Irvine, Gary Soto, who grew up in a barrio of south Fresno, celebrated his first book of poems,

The Elements of San Joaquin

, published in the prestigious Pitt Poetry Series. Most of his high school classmates, teachers, and wrestling coaches must have been surprised as nothing in his boyhood indicated the likelihood of a career in literature. Both sets of his grandparents had migrated from Mexico during the era of the Porfirio Díaz dictatorship, working in the fields of the San Joaquin Valley and later in the packing houses of Fresno. His father died in an industrial accident while working for Sun-Maid Raisins when Gary was six. His mother married an…

4373 words

Citation: McFarland, Ronald . "Gary Soto". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 November 2024 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4153, accessed 09 December 2024.]

4153 Gary Soto 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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