Helena Maria Viramontes

Background

Helena Viramontes was born on February 26, 1954, in Los Angeles, California, United States, into the family of Serafin Viramontes and Maria Louise La Brada Viramontes.

Education

Viramontes graduated from Garfield High School, one of the high schools that participated in the 1968 Chicano Blowouts. She then attended Immaculate Heart College, from which she earned her Bachelor of Arts in English literature in 1975. Viramontes also attended the graduate program in creative writing at the University of California, Irvine.

Career

Helena started her writing career while while attending Immaculate Heart College, and then she continued to do it for a living. Her short stories have been published in a variety of literary journals. In 1985, Arte Público Press published "The Moths", collection of short stories. During her hiatus from academia she published in many underground literary journals such as ChismeArte. In 1988, she co-edited Chicana Creativity and Criticism with María Herrera-Sobek, a volume dedicated to the literary output of Mexican-American women.

In 1995, Helena's first novel "Under the Feet of Jesus" was published to critical acclaim. In 2007 she published "Their Dogs Came With Them", a novel that took her 17 years to complete. Viramontes is currently a professor of English at Cornell University.

Achievements

• In 1977, Helena's short story "Requiem for the Poor" was awarded a prize from Statement Magazine. In 1979, she won a literary prize from the Spanish department at University of California at Irvine for her short story "Birthday."

Works

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• book

  • Under the Feet of Jesus 1996
  • The Moths and Other Stories 1995
  • Their Dogs Came with Them: A Novel 2008
  • Chicana (W)Rites: On Word and Film (Series in Chicana/Latina Studies) 1995
  • Chicana Creativity and Criticism: New Frontiers in American Literature 1996
  • Trini (Contemporary Classics by Women) 2005

Connections

Helena is married and has two children.

Father:

Serafin Viramontes

Mother:

Maria Louise La Brada Viramontes