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Gary Soto

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Author

The Resume

    (April 12, 1952- )
    Born in Fresno, California
    Middle name is Anthony
    Short stories published in the collections 'Living up the Street' (1985), 'Small Faces' (1986), 'Lesser Evils: Ten Quartets' (1988), and 'A Summer Life' (1990)
    Wrote the children's books 'Chato’s Kitchen' (1995), 'Buried Onions' (1997), 'Jessie De La Cruz: A Profile of a United Farm Worker' (2000), 'The Afterlife' (2003), 'Marisol' (2005) and 'My Little Car/Mi Carrito' (2006)
    Poetry collections include 'The Elements of San Joaquin' (1977), 'The Tale of Sunlight' (1978), 'Black Hair' (1985), 'A Natural Man' (1999), 'One Kind of Faith' (2003), 'A Fire in My Hands' (2006), 'A Simple Plan' (2007), 'Partly Cloudy' (2009), and 'Sudden Loss of Dignity' (2013)

Why he might be annoying:

    Some feel his short stories are just like Jean Shepherd's only with the Chicano locale added.
    He regretted writing 'Marisol' for the American Girl book series so much that he stopped writing children's books because of it.
    He elaborated on his decision to the Huffington Post, saying: 'At my age, the genre is too dangerous.'
    He is sometimes confused with fellow children's author Gary Paulsen.

Why he might not be annoying:

    His father died when he was five years old.
    He was a Youth Ambassador for the United Farm Workers of America.
    He was the first Mexican-American to earn a M.F.A. from the University of California, Irvine in 1976.
    His first collection of poems won the United States Award of the International Poetry Forum in 1976.
    He has won numerous literary awards and medals over the course of his career.
    His writing influences include Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Pablo Neruda.
    His creation Marisol Luna is the first Latina American Girl of the year made for the series.
    He draws from his experiences growing up as a Mexican-American field worker, but says: 'As a writer, my duty is not to make people perfect, particularly Mexican-Americans. I’m not a cheerleader. I’m one who provides portraits of people in the rush of life.'

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 7 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying