Gina Valdés's prose and poetry, characterized by a tension between her social concerns and a strong metaphysical current, place her at an important crossroads within Chicano letters. She is fusing trends that have been central to Chicano literature.

Born in Los Angeles on 6 June 1943, Valdés spent her early childhood in Ensenada, Mexico, and her adolescence in Los Angeles. She graduated from George Washington High School in Los Angeles in 1961 and attended Palomar College in north San Diego County between 1976 and 1978 before transferring to the University of California, San Diego, where she received her B.A. in creative writing in 1981. Thereafter she began her graduate studies in the literature department and in 1982 received an M.A. in Spanish literature. Her M.A. thesis not only deals with the relationship between critical and creative writing but also includes a collection of Valdés's unpublished, original...