THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT
Norma Elia Cantú
“I am forever grateful to have grown up in a working-class family on the border because I have learned so much and have been offered opportunities to grow in incredible ways because of that reality.”
Chicana writer, folklorist and professor of literature. Founder and director of the Society for the Study of Gloria Anzaldúa and co-founder of the group of Latinx poets, Canto Mundo. Member of the Macondo Writers Workshop. Past President, The American Folklore Society. Member of the Conjunto de Nepantleras of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Texas A&I at Laredo and Kingsville, respectively and Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
Interviewed by VFA member, Suzanne Tuckey, May 2022
Photo 1. Photo by Ralph Grajeda, 1979. Photo 2. Norma Elia Cantú. Photo 3. Photo by Joel Salcido.
More About Norma:
- Norma Cantú biography for the VFA
- Norma E. Cantú, Ph.D. Professor (Emeritus), Department of English, at UTSA, including publications
- Select interviews
- Latinx literature, Dr. Cantú’s presentation was part of “Teaching and Understanding Literature,” sponsored by Humanities Texas, March 30, 2021
- Norma E. Cantú Talks: Living MeXicana/X Cultura, Nov. 20, 2020
- #TXBookChat with Dr. Norma E. Cantú, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Sept. 17, 2020
- “A Conversation with Norma Elia Cantú,” Performing Human Rights, Aug. 6, 2020
- Wikipedia page