Rudolfo Anaya was born in El Paso, Texas in 1921, and grew up in a small ranch-style house in the lowland village of Socorro. At age sixteen, he became an apprentice printer at the "El Paso Herald-Post," and later served as a reporter for the "El Paso Times." After graduating from high school, he enrolled in the University of Texas at Austin to study English and journalism.
Anaya received his master's degree in English from UT in 1948 and then moved to New York City to pursue a career as a writer. He worked for many years as a freelance writer and editor. In 1968, he became a full-time staff writer for "The Saturday Evening Post," and continued to work there until the late 1980s.
Anaya wrote more than twenty children's books, including: The Tio Pepe Story (1980), The Girl from El Paso (1984), The Girl from the Rancho Grande (1985), The Girl from Las Trampas (1990), The Girl from Zapata (1991), The Girl from Rancho San Jose (1992)
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He also coauthored two other books with his wife, Myrtle Anaya: Tio Pepe's Rescue Mission (1979) and Pancho Villa's Girl (1984).
The latter two books were also made into television movies starring Anthony Quinn and Michael Parks, respectively. In addition to his children's books, Anaya wrote numerous essays on various topics such as Mexico and Texas history. His literary awards include three Golden Books from Children's Book Group Awards in 1978, 1979, 1984, 1985; two National Society of Newspaper Columnists Awards in 1979 and 1984; a National Council for the Social Studies Award in 1980; a League of United Latin American Citizens Distinguished Author Award in 1985; the Texana Award from the Texas Institute of Letters in 1985; an Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Award for outstanding writing in television in 1988; an International Reading Association Award for excellence in children's literature in 1991; an ALA Notable Book for Children citation in 1992; a Parents' Choice Award in 1992; a National Parenting Publications Awards Gold Honor Citation; three Jewish Bookfair Gold Medals; two Publishers Weekly Best Books Honor Citations; two New York Public Library Best Books Awards; an Ellis Island Medal of Honor Citation; and the ALA Mildred L.
Batchelder Award Honors Children's Literature. In 2002 he received the prestigious Premio Jose Gorost