Helena Maria Viramontes (1954-)

Helena Maria Viramontes was born in 1954 in East Los Angeles, California, where her parents were migrant workers. She started writing while attending college and won numerous awards for her work. In 1981 Viramontes began her studies for the Master of Fine Arts Creative Writing program at the University of California at Irvine.

The major themes of her stories can be traced to her childhood experiences as she grew up in East Los Angeles. Also, the work of Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers influenced her life and her art. In 1995 Viramontes' powerful novel, Under the Feet of Jesus, was published. She dedicated this work to the memory of Cesar Chavez and her parents who met while they labored in the fields of California.

Ms. Viramontes has won a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts to collaborate on a workshop with Gabriel Garcia Marquez at the Sundance Institute. Also, her work has appeared in the anthology, Cuentos, and in 1985 her book, The Moths and Other Stories, was published. In 1993 she began to teach creative writing at Cornell University where she is an Assistant Professor of English.

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