"A woman who writes has power, and a woman with power is feared." Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa was born in Rio Grande Valley in South Texas on September 26, 1942. She has described herself as a "chicana dyke-feminist, tejana patlache poet, writer and cultural theorist." Throughout her childhood she moved to several ranches where she worked as a migrant farmer. There she experienced discrimination all while trying make a living for herself and her family. She suffered from a rare endocrine condition that caused her to menstruate when she was 3 months and to stop growing at the age of 12. When she was just 14 years old her father was killed in a car accident. This unfortunate event meant that Gloria would now have to help take care of her family and so she had to continue working in the fields while trying read, draw, and write. Despite all the discrimination she face for being Hispanic and a woman she never gave up. She is the embodiment of a hard working female who knew what she wanted and went after it. In 1969, she received her B.A. In English Art and Secondary Education from Pan American University. Later on she went on to obtain her M.A. in English and Education from the University of Texas. She went on to become a teacher and taught several bilingual preschool programs and special education programs for mentally and emotionally handicapped students. She also taught in several colleges like the University of Texas at Austin, Vermont College of Norwich University, and San Francisco State University. She taught classes that involved creative writing, feminism, and Chicano studies. However, while teaching she noticed that there weren't many books written for or about Chicana women and that is when she decided to start writing. She is well-known for her co-editing work "This Bridge Called My Back: Writing by Radical Women f Color. She is most indistinguishably known for using both Spanish and English in her writings in order to showcase the distinct troubles with language. By using both languages she is able to communicate her thoughts to the reader as if he/ she where in it. In her books she talks about the treatment and lifestyle she has endured for speaking the way that she does. She also talks about the different worlds and relationships that exist between Chicanas and white American society. Gloria has always been proud of her culture and heritage and has been an inspiration for many young Latinas and hispanas around the world. Gloria was awarded many awards such as the Lambda Lesbian Small Book Press Award for Haciendo Cara, the NEA Fiction Award, Sappho Award of Distinction, and the Before Columbus Foundation American Book Award for "This Bridge Called My Back." Her work "Borderland/ La Frontera" was chosen by the Literary Journal and one of the 38 Best Books of 1987.

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