Episode Summary
From one of this country's most original voices comes a masterful new novel about a young Mexican-American who falls in love while sweeping the decks of an apartment building named The Flowers. In the midst of exploding racial violence, he must decide what he values and what he can do about it.
Participant(s) Bio
Dagoberto Gilb was born in the city of Los Angeles, his mother a Mexican who crossed the border illegally, and his father a Spanish-speaking Anglo raised in East Los Angeles. He studied philosophy and religion at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and graduated with both bachelor's and master's degrees. After that, he began his life as a construction worker, eventually joining the union in Los Angeles; a member of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners. As a class-A journeyman carpenter, his employment for the next twelve years was on high-rise buildings, including MOCA. His books include The Magic of Blood (1993), which won the 1994 PEN/Hemingway Award, ,i>The Last Known Residence of Mickey Acuña (1994), A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Woodcuts of Women (2001), and Gritos (2003). Gilb recently published, as its editor, Hecho en Tejas: An Anthology of Texas Mexican Literature (2006). He is now a tenured professor in the Creative Writing Program at Texas State University, in San Marcos, Texas.
Credits
