Rafael Jesús González was born in the bicultural/bilingual setting of El Paso/Juárez and attended the University of Texas at El Paso, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, & the University of Oregon. Professor of Creative Writing & Literature, he has taught at the University of Oregon, Western State College of Colorado, Central Washington State University, the University of Texas at El Paso, and Laney College, Oakland (where he founded the Mexican and Latin American Studies Dept.) He has also taught in the public schools under Poets in the Classroom. His poetry and scholarly articles appear in reviews & anthologies in the U.S., Mexico & abroad; his collection of verse El Hacedor De Juegos/The Maker of Games published by Casa Editorial, San Francisco, went into a second printing. He has thrice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He was Poet in Residence at the Oakland Museum of California and the Oakland Public Library under the Poets & Writers "Writers on Site" award in 1996 and received the Annual Dragonfly Press Award for Literary Achievement in 2002. In 2003 he was honored by the National Council of Teachers of English & Annenberg/CPB for his writing. He was selected Featured Poet by the Poetry Center, San José, Fall 2005. In November of 2005, he was invited to read his poetry and presented a paper at the World Congress of Poets in Tai'an, Shandong Province, China. Also a visual artist, his work has been exhibited at the Oakland Museum of California; the Mexican Museum of San Francisco; the Charles Allis Art Museum, Milwaukee; & others in the U.S., Mexico, and abroad. He is on the Advisory Board of Wisdom University, Oakland, California; on the Latino Advisory Committee of the Oakland Museum of California; and on the Alameda County Office of Education Arts Alliance, and Peace Education Network.

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