|
Biography
A professor, founding faculty member, and former chair of the UCLA César E. Chåvez Department of Chicana/o Studies, and currently serving as Chair of the LGBTQ Studies Program (since 2013), Alicia Gaspar de Alba holds a PhD in American Studies and has taught at UCLA since 1994, mentoring generations of queer and/or feminist Chicana/o writers, teachers, artists and activist scholars. Gaspar has published 12 books. Her most recent book of fiction is The Curse of the Gypsy: Ten Stories and a Novella (2018). Her most recent academic book, [Un]Framing the "Bad Woman Sor Juana, Malinche, Coyolxauhqui and Other Rebels with a Cause (2014), is a collection of two decades of scholarly essays examining the "bad woman" stereotype in Chicana/o and Mexicana/o culture. She has also published three novels, two collections of poetry, and an award-winning short story collection. Her writing has been translated into Spanish, German, Italian and French. Her novel, Sor Juana 's Second Dream, (1999), a Chicana lesbian interpretation of the life of Mexico's "tenth muse," the 17th-century nun/poet/scholar Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz-- has been adapted to play, opera, and screenplay. In Fall 2019, the two-act opera adaption will premiere at UCLA. There is also a forthcoming movie adaptation starring Ana de la Reguera as Sor Juana. Gaspar has received awards for both her scholarly work and creative writing. She received a Poetry Award from the Massachusetts Artists Foundation; the Ralph Henry Gabriel American Studies Association Award; Premio Aztlån for Emerging Chicana/o Fiction Writers; the Rockefeller Fellowship for Latino/a Study at the Smithsonian; in 2005, her mystery novel, Desert Blood won both a Lambda Literary Foundation Award and a Latino Book Award; the UCLA Gold Shield Faculty Award for Academic Excellence; and in 2015, [Un]Framing the "Bad Woman " won the Book Award of the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education." with "Alicia Gaspar de Alba is a native of the El Paso/Juárez border and grew up on Barcelona Street, less than a mile from the Segundo Barrio. She attended Loretto Academy Elementary School, Eastwood High School, and la UTEP. After graduating with her Master's degree, she moved to San Miguel de Allende for six months to live "the writer's life," but she learned to make paper and weave small rugs instead. In 1985, she moved to Iowa City to begin her doctorate in American Studies, where she enjoyed the snow and the Black Angel Cemetery and her community of queer Latinas/os, but not academia. She moved to Boston, Massachusetts to work in publishing and found a full-time job as a braille transcriber at National Braille Press, and also taught English Composition and ESL courses at UMASS Boston part-time. Investing $600 on a used IBM Selectric typewriter, she resolved to "be a writer" no matter what, and sat at her typewriter every morning for 4 years. In 1990 she moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to finish her Ph.D. in American Studies at UNM, and since 1992, she has been living in Los Angeles. In 1994, a few months after filing her dissertation, she landed a tenure-track job teaching Chicana/o Studies at UCLA. She makes her home in Los Angeles' Mid-City with her wife, digital artist and muralist Alma Lopez, their two kitties: Rubi Tuesday and Luna Azul, and their two dogs, Penelope and Lucy."
OPERA America/Opera.ca Grants Awarded
Click here to learn more about OPERA America granting programs.
| GRANT NAME | YEAR | Opera Grants for Women Composers: Discovery Grants | 2019 |
Productions
Click company name to view productions details.
|
Artist Information
All information is derived from OPERA America's Season Schedule of Performances and titles databases which date back to 1991. OPERA America is constantly updating this data. If you feel that a work or an artist has been omitted or that information is incorrect, please use the linked forms below. Title Information Form Artist Information Form
|