Background

González was born on July 18, 1970, in Bakersfield, California, the son of Rigoberto González Carrillo, a farmworker. He was raised in Michoacán, Mexico. His extended family migrated back to California in 1980 and returned to Mexico in 1992. González remained alone in the United States to complete his education.

Education

González earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Humanities and Social Sciences Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of California, Riverside, and graduate degrees from the University of California, Davis, and Arizona State University in Tempe.

Three of his poetry teachers have been Pat Mora, Gary Soto, and Francisco X. Alarcon. All three write picture books for children, so González became inspired to write a few of his own.

Career

After graduating, González worked as a literary specialist from 1999 until 2001 at Arts & Literacy After School Program. He then went on to the New School University as a visiting professor in 2002 and stayed until 2004. He worked at the University of Toledo from 2004 to 2005, then at the University of Illinois in 2005-2006, then at Queens College City University of New York from 2006 until 2008. As of 2019, he joined the faculty of the Randolph College Low-Res MFA in Creative Writing.

González's work expresses the images of hardship, strenuous labor, and deep-rooted traditions that he experienced growing up. His first book, the poetry collection So Often the Pitcher Goes to Water until It Breaks, offers a selection of mostly straightforward narratives with their somber ironies and death-drenched imagery that rely on a multicultural appeal for their uniqueness. The poems depict subjects such as the life of a professional mourner, who saved the tears from her husband's death for her work; a coffin-maker who saves worn-out and valueless pesos to place with the dead; and a candlestick maker who pours his own life into his devotional art. Some poems touch on González's grandparents and happier times with them. Other poems describe the social problems that González is familiar with, including the exploitation of immigrants, prejudice, and homesickness.

Crossing Vines, González's 2003 novel, also uses the day-to-day life of the migrant farmworker as its basis. Using a tightly detailed chronological structure, González outlines the minute-by-minute activities of a day in the life of a group of migrant workers, who dutifully arrive and take their positions at their workplace until a violent workers' strike disrupts their lives and their livelihood.

González addresses a quieter social problem in Soledad Sigh-Sighs/Soledad Suspiros, a bilingual picture book for children. The story is told in both English and Spanish, and concerns young Soledad, a latchkey kid who comes home to an empty apartment every day. She fixes her own dinner, does her homework, and goes to bed alone because her parents work long hours and are rarely there to see her. When lonely Soledad sees her neighbors Nedelsy and Jahniza playing happily together, she invents an imaginary sister of her own. The other girls soon find out, and when they do, they invite Soledad to their home to play, listen to music, read, dance, and draw - things that Soledad could do by herself but which are more fun to do with friends. Jahniza and Nedelsy help Soledad learn the value of friendship and companionship, as well as the value of solitude.

With Other Fugitives and Other Strangers, González returns to poetry, offering readers his second collection. The poems reflect his interest in the imagery of death, especially in a confessional mode that reveals his feelings concerning the death of his mother, but also of that of a stranger, someone out of place. Unlike many writers, who view the stranger as someone ill at ease in his or her otherness, González depicts his stranger as unabashed and unashamed, thrust forward in an effort to make himself known.

In 2006, González published his memoir Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa. The book chronicles González's childhood, growing up gay, and looks back from an adult perspective on how those years informed his attitudes later in life, as well as his behavior and relationships. His another memoir, What Drowns the Flowers in Your Mouth: A Memoir of Brotherhood, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Autobiography. He is the 2015 recipient of the Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Publishing Triangle, and the 2020 recipient of the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry.

Achievements

• González is best known as a writer of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and bilingual children's books. His writings have won critical acclaim as well as awards.

Works

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  • Mariposa U.

    (The third and final installment in Rigoberto González's b...)

    2015
  • The Mariposa Club

    (As they embark on their final year of high school, the Fi...)

    2010
  • Pivotal Voices, Era of Transition: Toward a 21st Century Poetics

    (Pivotal Voices, Era of Transition gathers Rigoberto Gonzá...)

    2017
  • What Drowns the Flowers in Your Mouth: A Memoir of Brotherhood

    (Burdened by poverty, illiteracy, and vulnerability as Mex...)

    2018
  • Mariposa Gown

    (In the sequel to The Mariposa Club, devoted Maui, fabulou...)

    2012
  • Red-Inked Retablos

    (In the Mexican Catholic tradition, retablos are ornamenta...)

    2013
  • Autobiography of My Hungers

    (In the second of his trio of acclaimed memoirs, Rigoberto...)

    2013
  • Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa 2006

Politics

Politically, González is liberal.

Views

When he started writing, González wanted his books to offer something a little different, perhaps a little more risky. His slant in writing picture books for children is to engage some important social issues and the realities that many children face today.

Membership

• Executive Board Member

  National Book Critics Circle , United States

Personality

González describes himself as a man of many identities: Chicano, gay, immigrant, and artist.

References

• Contemporary Authors Volume 221
  2004