Sudden Loss of Dignity

Born in Fresno, California, Gary Soto earned an MFA from the University of California, Irvine, and taught at the University of California, Berkeley. His first collection, The Elements of San Joaquin (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1977), won the United States Award of the International Poetry Forum. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Robert Kirsch Award for lifetime achievement from the Los Angeles Times. He has also written extensively in fiction and memoir for young readers.