From Curandera to Chupacabra: The Stories of Rudolfo Anaya

From Curandera to Chupacabra: The Stories of Rudolfo Anaya is a 26 minute documentary looking at the struggles and exultations of the creative process of writing from the standpoint of Rudolfo Anaya, an author whose life is steeped in New Mexican tradition.

Steering away from a strict biographical sketch, the documentary has friends, colleagues and other writers reading excerpts from Rudolfo Anaya’s novels, short stories, plays, travelogues, and children’s books, each contemplating their personal perspective on Anaya’s prose. Anaya himself talks about how he shapes his writing from influences such as childhood, family, New Mexico’s landscapes and traditional folktales, as well as the mythological and dream-like symbols arising from his own subconscious world.

Besides fame as a 2001 winner of the prestigious Presidential Medal of Arts and
distinguished as “the grandfather of Chicano literature”, Rudolfo Anaya is committed to writing about “la raza” – the people – and “la tierra” - the land - a commitment that has earned him an honorary place in the humble hearts of New Mexicans.

- Director, Kelly Kowalski

A prolific regional author of international renown, Rudolfo Anaya is one of the most influential authors in contemporary Chicano literature. Through essays and stories, plays and novels, poems and children's books he weaves mythology, fantasy and reality, illuminating the lives of Hispanics in the Southwest.

Rudolfo Alfonso Anaya describes himself as being born of Nuevo-Mexicano ancestry in Pastura, a small village on the plains near Santa Rosa. The third youngest of ten children, he spent his early years immersed in a place of heritage and spiritual relationship to the land. As a teenager, he moved with his family to Albuquerque, where he struggled to find his identity in the midst of the city environment and Anglo culture.

A spinal injury from a swimming accident in his sophomore year at Albuquerque High School interrupted his academic and athletic lives, bringing him unforeseen challenges that he overcame with courage and determination. This difficult period, including some time spent recovering at Carrie Tingley Hospital, actually served to focus his intellect and sowed the seeds of his literary career.

Anaya’s teaching career began in the early 1960s in the Albuquerque Public Schools and continued at UNM, in the department of English and English Literature. For twenty years he inspired and mentored his students in creative writing and Chicano literature - and although he officially retired in 1993, he still serves as Professor Emeritus of English.

Bless Me, Ultima, his first novel, earned the prestigious Premio Quinto Sol National Chicano Literary Award in 1972 and brought him wide acclaim. Heart of Atzlan and Tortuga followed, creative compositions in a wide variety of literary genres.

For his accomplishments throughout his career, Anaya has been honored with a National Medal of Arts award, the PEN Center West Award and the New Mexico Governor's Award for Excellence and Achievement in Literature, among others. His definitive narratives of the Chicano experience in the American Southwest have moved some to call him “the dean of Chicano literature.”

Anaya continues to share his passion for education, culture and literacy with young students throughout the Southwest, visiting schools and giving readings of his works at numerous community events.

With his wife Patricia, he founded the Premio Aztlan Literary Prize, a national literary award,established to encourage and reward emerging Chicana and Chicano authors. They also fund Critica Nueva, which supports lectures at UNM by literary critics.

Anaya recently donated his manuscript collection to the Center for Southwest Research at the Zimmerman Library on the UNM campus. He continues to visit schools and gives readings of his works at numerous community events, continuing to share his passion for education, culture and literacy with young students throughout the Southwest.