Isabella Ríos

M. Carmen Gomez-Galisteo (Universidad a Distancia)

Ed. by Ben Bollig, University of Oxford
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.7: Chicano/Latino Writing and Culture of the United States.
Vol. editors: Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Nuala Finnegan (University College Cork), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Lori Oxford (Western Carolina University)

Dates

Born 1948
Activity 1976-ongoing

Places

Born in United States
Active in United States

Cultural Identities

Latino/a US-American

Activities

Primary

Novelist
Teacher/ Professor

Resources

Ríos' Works

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Born Diana López in Los Angeles, Isabella Ríos adopted the name of her maternal grandmother as her penname. The oldest of nine children, Ríos’s father was a New Mexican Native American, whereas her mother descended from an old “Californio” family. From her mother and other women in her family, she soon learned about her ancestry and the story of the “Californios” – the Hispanic inhabitants of Mexican California who lost their lands to the Anglos after California became part of the United States following the Mexican-American War. Ríos grew up in the Hispanic community of Oxnard, California, until she was four, when the family moved to Ventura. Though Ventura is geographically close to Oxnard, the move represented a cultural shock for Ríos – not only did people not speak…

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641 words

Citation: Gomez-Galisteo, M. Carmen. "Isabella Ríos". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 May 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12090, accessed 21 November 2024.]