A true southwesterner, Ray González was born and grew up in El Paso, Texas, but has also spent long stretches of time in the Rocky Mountain front-range of Colorado, and he travels frequently in New Mexico, Arizona, and California. In 1989 he returned to his native state to head the literature programs of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center in San Antonio. This move followed over a decade of work in the Denver, Colorado, area as a writer, editor, and avid promoter of the arts and literature, especially poetry.

Having earned a B.A. in creative writing from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1975, González moved to Colorado and began work almost immediately in his chosen field. He taught writing to juvenile offenders at the Emerson House Detention Center in Denver and also participated in the poet-in-the-schools public school program. After a brief stint...