Biography
Alfonso Rodríguez is an author of northern Mexican origin born in a small community just a few kilometers from the border near the city of Piedras Negras, in the state of Coahuila. His family migrated to the United States when he was 10 years of age, and established itself in Crystal City, Texas.
After graduating from high school in 1963, he attended Southwest Texas Junior College in Uvalde where he obtained his associate of arts degree in 1965. At Texas A&I University he obtained his bachelor’s degree (1968) and his master’s degree (1970). He started out as an elementary school teacher in Raymondville, Texas and later became a high school teacher in Kingsville, Texas. In 1976 he completed his doctoral degree at the University of Iowa. His areas of concentration were Spanish language, Spanish, Latin American and Chicano Literatures.
Presently, he is professor emeritus at the University of Northern Colorado where he began work in 1978. Before that, from 1975 to 1978, he was a professor at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. He has been a visiting professor at Western Michigan University (1988) and at Michigan State University (1995). He has been retired from full-time teaching since 2004.
He has published a book of literary criticism, La estructura mítica del Popol Vuh/The Mythical Structure of Popol Vuh, five poetry collections: Salmos para migrantes/Psalms for Migrant Workers, Levantando la palabra/Proclaiming the Word, Polvo en la luz/Dust in the Light, El tiempo en haikú/Time in Haiku (DVD), Poemas para Alba Citlali/Poems for Alba Citlali (E-Book), and he has completed a sixth poetry book to be published in 2014: En busca del maná escondido/In Search of the Hidden Manna. Additionally, he has published a collection of short stories: La otra frontera/The Other Border.
Rodríguez has presented lectures, workshops, papers, and published articles and essays in several European and Latin American countries as well as in the United States and South Korea. He has been co-founder and editor of the journal Confluencia: Revista Hispánica de Cultura y Literatura. He also served as chairman of the Department of Hispanic Studies at the University of Northern Colorado.
