Gloria Velásquez-Treviño consciously began her career with the knowledge that her readers were chiefly her own people. She has developed a wide range of discourse, including images from pre-Columbian times to those of modern farm and urban workers, a discourse that features a clear, Chicana feminist voice. Her literary language exhibits influences from Mexican and Latin-American literatures, specifically, in her latest productions, magical realism.

Born in the small town of Loveland, Colorado, on 21 December 1949, Velásquez-Treviño claims heritage from a long-standing New Mexican family, with Navajo blood from her paternal grandfather. Her parents, Francisca Molinar-Velásquez and Juan Velásquez, earned a living until 1963 as migrant workers, traveling between Colorado and Texas, and they finally settled as factory and hospital workers in Johnstown, Colorado. Velásquez-Treviño experienced the migrant cycle of constant change as a child...