I want to inspire
social change and get people to care about human dignity, I want to educate our youth. I want to politicize them.
Considered an early pioneer of the Chicano Art Renaissance, Gloria L. Velásquez is an internationally acclaimed author who holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University in Latin American and Chicano Literatures. Velasquez’s poetry and fiction have appeared in journals and anthologies throughout the U.S. as well as in Europe. Velásquez is the author of two bilingual collections of poetry, I Used to Be a Superwoman (1994) and Xicana on the Run (2005). She is creator of the popular Roosevelt High School Series,which includes ten novels to date. In 2003, her novel, Ankiza was released in a new French edition entitled, J’aime qui je veux (Pocket Jeunesse 2003). The ninth novel in the series, Tommy Stands Tall (2013) is the sequel to one of Velasquez’s earlier novels (Tommy Stands Alone) which made national headlines when it was banned in 1995. Velásquez has a forthcoming bilingual novel entitled, Soldaditos y muñecas/Toy Soldiers and Dolls.
History Making Ethnic Women,” by Sherry York. (Linworth Publishing) One of Velásquez’s songs, “Son in Vietnam,” appeared in the 2003 PBS Documentary, Soldados: Chicanos in Vietnam. Velásquez was also featured in the 2006 PBS Documentary, La Raza de Colorado. In 1989, Velásquez became the first Chicana to be inducted into the University of Northern Colorado’s Hall of Fame. In addition, Special Collections at Stanford University has honored Velásquez’s literary production with “The Gloria Velásquez Papers,” archiving her life as a writer and humanitarian.
Gloria L. Velásquez is a Professor Emeritus in the World Languages and Cultures Department at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California.
Venturing into the music world, Velásquez has published the Superwoman Chicana CD, which features poetry and music and a bilingual children’s CD, the Double Bubbleheads.
Gloria L. Velásquez has received many honors for her writings and achievements such as being featured for Hispanic Heritage Month on KTLA, Channel 5, Los Angeles. Velásquez has been included in numerous literary biographies such as Who’s Who Among Hispanic Americans; Something about the Author and Contemporary Authors. She has similary been included in Chicano Writers: Second Series, Dictionary of Literary Biography, Latina and Latino Voices in Literature (1997;2003) and the Emmy award-winning anthology, A-Z Latino Writers and Journalists. (2007) In 2001, Velásquez was honored by The Texas House of Representatives for her outstanding contributions to literature and in 2004, she was featured in “100