Luis Rodriguez

Through education and the power of words, Rodriguez saw his way out of poverty and despair in the barrio of East Los Angeles and successfully broke free from the years of violence and desperation he spent as an active gang member. Achieving success as an award-winning Chicano poet, he was sure the streets would haunt him no more — until his young son joined a gang himself. Rodriguez fought for his child by telling his own story in the bestselling memoir Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A., which earned a Carl Sandburg Literary Award and was designated a New York Times Notable Book; it has also been named by the American Library Association as one of the nation’s 100 most censored books. Rodriguez is also known for helping start a number of prominent organizations such as Chicago’s Guild Complex, one of the largest literary arts organizations in the Midwest; Rock a Mole Productions which produces music and art festivals, CDs and film; and Youth Struggling for Survival, a Chicago-based non-profit community group working with gang and non-gang youth. In addition, he is one of the founders of the small poetry publishing house Tia Chucha Press, as well as Tia Chucha's Café & Centro Cultural, a bookstore, coffee shop, art gallery, performance space, and workshop center in Los Angeles. Rodriguez is also an accomplished and honored poet and children’s book author. His honors include a Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award, a Lannan Fellowship for Poetry, a Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature, a California Arts Council fellowship and several Illinois Arts Council fellowships. He was one of 50 leaders worldwide selected as “Unsung Heroes of Compassion,” presented by the Dalai Lama.