Gary Soto
April 12, 1952 - present
Biography
Who is Gary Soto? Gary Soto is a man who writes from experience. He grew up in one of the many barrios (poor Mexican American neighborhoods) of Fresno, California, and since the mid-1970s.
Where was he born? Gary Soto was born on April 12, 1952, the second child of Manuel and Angie Soto.
Married: He married Carolyn Oda, the daughter of Japanese American.
Children: Mariko Heidy Soto
Important Life information: In 1966, the National Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC) was founded by two leaders in the Mexican American community who had been fighting for labor rights for years, Cesar Chávez (1927–1993) and Dolores Huerta (1930–). Their first combined effort involved organizing Chicano and Filipino workers in the California grape-picker strike of 1965–66.
In 1985 Soto had produced four books of poetry and been published in numerous
poetry magazines.
Some books of Gary Soto
Living Up The Street
In a prose that is so beautiful it is poetry, we see the world of growing up and going somewhere through the dust and heat of Fresno's industrial side and beyond: It is a boy's coming of age in the barrio.
Publication date: 2/28/1992
Too Many Tamales
Maria was feeling very grown-up on Christmas Eve as she helped her mother prepare the tamales for Christmas dinner. When she slipped her mother's diamond ring onto her finger, she only meant to wear it for a minute.
Publication date: 8/28/1996
Novio Boy
Ninth-grade Rudy has asked eleventh-grade Patricia out on a date, and to his amazement she has agreed. Now Rudy has to come up with the money, the poise, and the conversation to carry it off.
Publication date: 10/1/2006