Jose B. Gonzalez

José B. González is the author of the International Latino Book Award Finalist, Toys Made of Rock, and When Love Was Reels. He was born in San Salvador, El Salvador and raised in New London, CT. He knew no English and now has a Ph.D. in English. He grew up in projects and two-family homes in New London, CT. His poetry has appeared in numerous journals such as Callaloo, Calabash, and the Quercus Review, and in collections such as The Norton Introduction to Literature, The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the United States, and Theatre Under My Skin: Contemporary Salvadoran Poetry.

A Fulbright Scholar and a nationally known speaker, he has presented at various colleges such as Harvard, Yale, Fairfield, Rutgers, Cornell and the University of Florida; countries including Mexico, Spain, and El Salvador; and institutions such as the Smithsonian Museum of African Art and the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian. He has been a contributor to National Public Radio and has been featured in the nationally syndicated show, American Latino TV, as well as Univision. His awards include AAHHE Latino Faculty of the Year, CT NAME Multicultural Faculty of the Year, CT Latino de Oro, and NEATE Poet of the Year.

He is the co-editor (with John S. Christie) of the pioneering Latino Boom: An Anthology of U.S. Latino Literature. He is a professor of English at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT, where he teaches creative writing, speech, Latino literature, and composition courses. He is the editor and founder of LatinoStories.Com and spends much of his free time coaching soccer, basketball, lacrosse, and telling little boys that it's okay to pick flowers--just not in the middle of games.