Spilling the Beans in Chicanolandia: Conversations with Writers and Artists

Alma Luz Villanueva

287 Alma Luz Villanueva lma Luz Villanueva was born on October 4, 1944, in Lompoc, California. Raised in San Francisco’s Mission District by her Yaqui maternal grandmother, Villanueva learned early of the trials and tribulations Mexican women face within a sexist and racist society. Deeply connected to her maternal Mexican roots—she never met her father, who was of German ancestry—Villanueva came to appreciate the healing power of art and storytelling. Her maternal grandfather was also a great influence, with his love of writing and metaphysical musings . Art and storytelling would become essential to Villanueva in her post-coming-of-age struggles, as the loss of her maternal grandmother left her fending for herself in San Francisco at a young age. These difficult life circumstances prevented her from finishing high school. She married and had a son during this period. However, with three children and much life experience under her belt, Villanueva was finally able to carve out a place for herself as a writer. On a small farm in California’s Sierra Nevada, Villanueva began dedicating long hours to the honing of her creative writing skills. She was especially attuned to nature and the cycles of life, death, and rebirth. She continued to dedicate long hours to her craft—the writing of poetry, novels, and short stories—which led her to an M.F.A. program at Vermont College in 1984. She has since become one of the most productive Chicana writers in the country, publishing poetry, novels, short stories, and essays that variously explore themes of gender, race, and sexuality as they connect back to an earthly spiritual sensibility. In her first collection of poetry, Bloodroot (1977), and her first novel, The Ultraviolet Sky (1987)—to mention only a few of her many works—she experiments with form and voice to complicate our sense of the universal forces of life and death in all aspects of our lives. She af- firms the strengths and values of Latina women in their deep rootedness to cultural traditions and nature. Her work has won national recognition, including the American Book Award and an award from the Before Columbus Foundation. Frederick Luis Aldama: You’ve had extensive experience publishing with small presses. Why not go with the bigger trade presses? Alma Luz Villanueva: Bilingual Press has been wonderful as a publisher for me. I do publish with many “large publishers” as well—in anthologies and textbooks, for example. Right now, I don’t have an agent, but I continue to publish my work with regularity. Also, Bilingual acts as my agent many times, as do I. (I’m getting good at it.) I think I’ve been fortunate, as my work was picked up fairly quickly and then published with awards early on, which brought attention to my work. The most recent anthologies include The Best American Poetry 1996, Prayers for a Thousand Years, Inspiration from Leaders and Visionaries Around the World, Caliente! The Best Erotic Writing in Latin American Fiction, Letters to J. D. Salinger, Under the Fifth Sun, Her Words: An Anthology of Poetry to the Great Goddess, Contemporary Hispanic Quotations, Snapshots, Understanding Poetry, and many other anthologies. I’ve found publication and readership definitely expanding since 1980, and I feel it’s my duty—and challenge—as a writer to write inside/outside any boxes I might find myself stuck within or locked out of. It’s my creative journey, not a prescribed role. I have much hope and excitement for new Latina/o fiction, and for all new global fiction. “We are not the mainstream; we are the ocean,” says Ishmael Reed. F.L.A.: How have institutions such as M.F.A. programs helped or hindered your career? A.L.V.: I found my M.F.A. program to be elitist and racist, but decided to persevere and am glad I did. The M.F.A. program I teach in now, at Antioch University in Los Angeles, is the one I would have wanted to be a student in, a very different experience. Yet my M.F.A. program became a challenge to me, to speak out when I witnessed racism or was targeted 288 Spilling the Beans in Chicanolandia Alma Luz Villanueva 289 in any way, so it may have been the exact program I needed at the time to evolve further as a writer, to stand my ground...