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…
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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 21 November 2024.]
