Click here to access an easily navigated site offering a wealth of information about the famous poet. If you'd like to view Baca's poetry, or a good biography, read interviews with the writer, or listen to one of Baca's six audio links, this is the site for you. Modern American Poetry: Jimmy Santiago Baca

American Poetry: Jimmy Santiago Baca
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/a_f/baca/baca.htm

This Web resource, a "multimedia companion to the [Oxford] Anthology of American Poetry," offers solid information about Baca. It provides an excellent starting point for a research paper, as you'll find a long and interesting interview with the writer, along with online versions of three poems: "El Gato," "Tire Shop," and "Crying Poem."

New Mexico Writer's Contact Directory: Jimmy Santiago Baca
http://www.nmcn.org/artsorgs/writersguide/baca.html

A page of contact information for the famous writer that briefly describes Baca's genre, gives a short bio of the author, summarizes his major publications, and suggests his audience.

PoetryPoetry: Featured Poet: Jimmy Santiago Baca
http://www.poetrypoetry.com/Features/JSBaca/JSBaca.html

Looking for audio selections of Baca? Then go no further, for at this site, you may access many audio links to a poetry reading recorded live from his January 2000 performance given at the Chicago Field Museum. Click on downloadable streams entitled "What kind of poem is appropriate?" "Grandma," or "I Called it Love," to hear Baca himself.

BIOGRAPHY
Jimmy Santiago Baca (b. 1957) was born in the barrio near Albuquerque, New Mexico. At the age of two he was sent to an orphanage, and at five his father died of alcoholism and his mother was involved with a second husband who eventually murdered her. When he was 12 he ran away from the orphanage to live with his grandparents, friends, or on the streets. Baca started abusing drugs and alcohol, and at 18 was arrested for possession with intent to sell (although he denies committing the crime). While serving six agonizing years in prison Baca taught himself to read and write, producing many excellent poems about his experience in jail. He published two books of poetry from prison, Jimmy Santiago Baca in 1978 and Immigrants in Our Own Land: Poems in 1979. In 1984 Baca received his B.A. in English from the University of New Mexico, and three years later he published Martin and Meditations on the South Valley, winner of the American Book Award for Poetry. He has continued to write poetry but has also branched out into drama and coauthored the screenplay for the movie Bound By Honor (1993).