Pastura, Santa Rosa, then Burque. Bless Me, Ultima put our villages on the shelf without sanding them down.
Rudolfo Anaya grew up in Pastura and Santa Rosa. Albuquerque became the city where he taught and wrote. He insisted a Chicano novel did not have to explain itself to either coast.
Bless Me, Ultima, 1972, is his novel about a boy, a curandera, and this landscape. People here still hand it to you when you say you want to understand the place. The book is his. We don’t reprint it.
He died in 2020. The city lost a teacher who had been listening for sixty years. This page is a hometown tribute, not an authorized biography.
Independent tribute to an Albuquerque hero. Not affiliated with the person, the family, or any team or foundation that carries the name. We don’t use their photograph. See a mistake? Write dukecitylegends@gmail.com.