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Jimmy Santiago Baca (born January 2, 1952 in Santa Fe, New Mexico) is an American poet and writer of Apache and Chicano descent. == Life and career == Jimmy Santiago Baca was born in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, in 1952. Abandoned by his parents at the age of ten, he lived with one of his grandmothers for several years before being placed in an orphanage. He wound up living on the streets, and at the age of twenty-one he was convicted on charges of drug possession and incarcerated. He served six and a half years in prison, three of them in isolation, and having expressed a desire to go to school (the guards considered this dangerous), he was for a time put in the same area of the prison with the inmates on death row before he was released.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Progressive Radio Show )〕 During this time, Baca taught himself to read and write, and he began to compose poetry. He sold these poems to fellow inmates in exchange for cigarettes. A fellow inmate convinced him to submit some of his poems to the magazine ''Mother Jones'', then edited by Denise Levertov. Levertov printed Baca's poems and began corresponding with him, eventually finding a publisher for his first book. ''Immigrants in Our Own Land'', Baca's first major collection, was highly praised. In 1987, his semi-autobiographical minor epic in verse, ''Martin & Meditations on the South Valley'', received the American Book Award for poetry, bringing Baca international acclaim and, in 1989, the Hispanic Heritage Award in Literature.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.hispanicheritage.org/hispanic_search.php?name=&opt2=10&opt3=0&x=6&y=10 )〕 A self-styled "poet of the people," Baca conducts writing workshops with children and adults at countless elementary, junior high and high schools, colleges, universities, reservations, barrio community centers, white ghettos, housing projects, correctional facilities and prisons from coast to coast. In 2004 Baca started a non-profit organization, Cedar Tree, Inc., that supports these workshops through charitable donations. As well as writing workshops, Cedar Tree has produced two documentary films ''Clamor en Chino'' and ''Moving the River Back Home''. The organization employs ex-offenders as interns.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Cedar Tree Inc )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jimmy Santiago Baca」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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