Gary Soto was born April 12, 1952, in Fresno, California, son of Manuel and Angie (Trevino) Soto. Like many Mexican Americans in Fresno, Soto's parents and grandparents had once worked as farmworkers in the surrounding countryside. Although both of his parents were American born, their Mexican heritage remained a vital influence in their home.

When Soto's father was killed in a factory accident when Gary was five, his mother was forced to struggle to provide for the family. For young Gary, survival took precedence over any dreams of writing. Soto tells interviewer, Jean W. Ross, "I don't think I had any literary aspirations when I was a kid. In fact we were pretty much an illiterate family .. . So my wanting to write poetry was a sort of fluke."

When Soto enrolled at Fresno City College in 1970, he began to focus on literature.

Fiis dreams of a...